


Up into Sunlight

by mewgirl1995



Series: The Future of Humans and Monsters [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dating, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Female Chara, Female Frisk, Fluff, Friendship, Guilt, Magic and Science, Minor Violence, Post-Undertale Soulless Pacifist Route, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:23:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7714753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mewgirl1995/pseuds/mewgirl1995
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The barrier has been destroyed and monsters now live alongside humans. Frisk now faces the challenges of falling in love with her best friend while both of them deal with the dark secrets of the past timelines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually my very first Undertale fanfiction. It took a while for my beta reader to complete it so I work on the other previously posted works in the meantime. Due to this, the style and tone of this series may be slightly different from my other works.

The small town of Ebott had many stories of monsters from the past. Though they all thought the monsters were sealed in Mt. Ebott. That knowledge contributed to the shock of adults and the children’s fear when Papyrus waltzed straight up to a playground. Asgore, Undyne, and Alphys followed several paces behind him, remaining far away from the humans.  

"HELLO HUMANS!" Papyrus’ voice echoed across the playground. "IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! I HAVE JUST ARRIVED FROM THE UNDERGROUND AND AM PLEASED TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE!"  

Sans, Toriel, and Frisk all arrived at the same time, albeit from different ways. Frisk raced forward, fumbling for some sort of explanation. As she struggled to think of what to say, she glanced around the faces of the humans before her. Some children looked frightened while others looked intrigued. Most of the adults looked horrified and stood frozen in place. One child approached Papyrus. "Are you a skeleton?" The boy paced around Papyrus as he spoke, breaking the silence.  

"WHY OF COURSE," Papyrus said with a confused look. "DO YOU NOT HAVE SKELETONS ON THE SURFACE?"

"course not, bonehead," Sans said. "we were all trapped remember?"

The silence continued on for a few more seconds as Frisk desperately wished that the humans could be accepting. She intertwined her fingers together and clenched her hands, holding them against her chest. If anything went wrong, she could LOAD, but she just wanted to share everything she knew about the monsters, about how wonderful her experience was with them. The other humans could understand if Frisk just explained how wonderful the monsters were. 

All of a sudden, one of the children approached Papyrus. "I like your cape!" She raced up to Papyrus as she gestured to his bright red cape. "I want one like it." Delighted, Frisk smiled.

One boy narrowed his eyes at them. "Aren't skeletons supposed to be scary?"

"we're not drop dead scary?" Sans said, smirking.

Several children laughed and they all responded with a corresponding, "No!"

Frisk felt a wave of relief as the children lost their fear and approached the monsters, but then she noticed the parents' and the other monsters' nervous stares. Papyrus and Sans seemed to be the least nervous of all the monsters. Even Toriel had stayed back a little way from the humans. Frisk approached, determined to convince everyone that the monsters and humans could be friends. "Hello," she said, smoothing out her sweater and tucking stray hairs behind her ears.. Several children shot a glance at her.

"Frisk!" several of them exclaimed, surprised that she was there. "Where have you been?"

"The Underground," Frisk said. She glanced down and back up again, rocking back and forth on her heels. "I have come back as an ambassador for my friends." Papyrus beamed at this, while Sans’ smile widened.  

Another boy narrowed his eyes at them as Papyrus said, "YES! FRISK HAS BECOME OUR GREAT FRIEND!" As Frisk smiled up at him, she noticed a few adults loosen up, looking more relaxed.                           

More whispered excitement followed. Asgore sighed and hesitantly approached. Several children stared up at him with wide eyes. He towered over all the humans there. Frisk glanced up at him as well and he gave her a hesitant nod. "This is King Asgore," Frisk said. "We were hoping that he could talk to the mayor." Frisk rocked back and forth on her heels again. “Surely, we can all live in peace right? We can all be friends.” The adults seemed a bit less nervous, but remained silent. Frisk began to say something else when Asgore spoke up.

"We want to cause you no trouble dear humans." Asgore spread his arms in a welcoming manner. "I hope our sudden appearance is of no inconvenience to you."

The adults whispered amongst themselves for a few moments before they decided on something. A police officer strode forward. "I think we'll be able to arrange something. We should go meet with the mayor." Asgore nodded and took Frisk's hand. Together they followed the police officer down to the town hall. Before any of the other adults could say anything, their children descended upon the remaining monsters, racing over to speak to them. One child wearing a Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie shirt approached Alphys, who launched into an excited discussion with them. Papyrus was delighted with all the attention.

"YOU SHALL ALL BE MY NEW GREAT FRIENDS!" he said proudly. "RIGHT HUMANS?" They all nodded and grinned up at him.  

Since the monsters had quite a lot of gold saved up, arrangements were made. The mayor offered them all vacant houses that were spread throughout the city. Over time the monsters melded into the town. Toriel and Asgore fit into human society better than most of the other monsters. Toriel had just the right temperament to be a teacher and Asgore's love of gardening improved landscapes all over town. Depending on the other monsters' unique talents they were able to find some locations as well. Shyren was welcomed in the local choir with open arms. Grillby was taken in by a kind elderly barkeep. All of the dogs ended up being pretty great petsitters. Mettatron got his own television for all humans and monsters to watch, though that meant he was often not in Ebott. Overall, everything had gone well. Any possible disasters had been averted. It was going better than Frisk could have ever hoped.

“Alright everyone," Toriel said to the gathered children outside her house. "Frisk and I will escort you to school today," Frisk nodded slightly. They had given it a few days before deciding to bring all the monsters to the school. The town needed some time to adjust. As Toriel checked to make sure everyone had brought the proper supplies, Papyrus and Sans approached.

"I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM READY FOR MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" Papyrus said, sporting his "cool dude" outfit.

Frisk stared at him and sighed, shaking her head. "Aren't you too old for school?"

"I AM UNDER THE EIGHTEEN YEAR LIMIT." Papyrus shot her a confused look. When Frisk glanced at Sans, the older skeleton just shrugged. Toriel glanced over at Papyrus and smiled.

"I mean under eighteen human years," Toriel said. "Not monster years." Frisk glanced at her with a surprised look. She had never considered if monsters aged much differently than humans.

"How old are you in monster years?" Frisk asked.

"SIXTEEN," Papyrus said proudly. "I AM CERTAINLY GETTING UP THERE IN AGE!"

Sans rolled his eyes. "yeah, you're really ancient," He said.

Toriel smiled kindly at Frisk. "Monsters live much longer than humans. Our age system is very different. For example, in human years I would be..." She trailed off and thought about it for a few moments. "Perhaps thousands of years? The math gets a little complicated."

"wow, in human years she's dead," Sans whispered to Frisk, who giggled behind her hands. She had never realized how old some of the monsters were. Then a sudden thought struck her. She would die before most of her friends. Sans noticed the sad look cross her face. "guess my joke wasn't very humerus?"

Frisk’s smile returned. "Knock it off before Papyrus hears," She said and nudged Sans with her elbow.

Sans rolled his eyes again. He raised his voice and said, "papyrus needs to lighten up. he just always works himself to the bone." He winked at his brother.

"STOP THAT NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed, while Toriel laughed behind her hands.

So went the flow of everyday life. Frisk worked hard to convince everyone about how safe monsters were. It seemed as though just talking to her changed any hesitant minds. The others concluded that Frisk was just a good speaker, but sometimes Frisk wondered if it was something else.

As time passed monsters integrated into the humans' lives and Frisk had been officially adopted by Toriel. Despite Papyrus’ disappoint at not being able to attend the school, Toriel was happy to get him a job at the school. Both Papyrus and Undyne served as new gym teachers, although the younger children tended to prefer Papyrus a bit more.

Frisk had become quite pleased with her new life. Everything had settled down and she was sure that great days were ahead of her and all of her friends. She laid in her room, staring up at the ceiling with a content smile. Then she rolled over and closed her eyes, snuggling down into her pillow.

"Hello partner."

Frisk sat up, chest heaving up and down in fear. Her heart pounded in her chest as her eyes darted around the room. Maybe she was just hearing things? After all, it was easy to imagine something that's not there right before you fall asleep. One foot at a time, Frisk slipped out of bed and tip toed around the room. She walked over to the window and peered out. When she saw that no one was out there, she turned around to go back to bed, eyes still darting around the room in search of any danger. When she caught a glance of her reflection in the mirror, she paused. Was she imagining things?

"You didn’t think you escaped me right? After all, we'll be together forever." The reflection showed Chara, not Frisk. The other girl smiled and tilted her head unnaturally to one side. "Right, Frisk? This new world has so many opportunities!" The girl's maniacal laughter filled the room. Terrified, Frisk grabbed a blanket and threw it over the mirror. "That won't erase your sins, Frisk. You can't just abandon me after all the time we spent together! After all we’ve done together!"

"Go away!" Frisk said, covering her ears. "I won't let you take over. Not again." She backed away, bumping up against the wall. She slunk down to the floor, gripping her head between her hands. "I won't hurt them! Not again!"

"They're in the way."

"No!"

"Aren't you mad? Sans killed you so many times, over and over again! He enjoyed it!"

Frisk shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut. "Go away!"

"I own your SOUL Frisk! I’ll make you kill all of them all over again! Isn’t that what you wanted to do? You are the one who did this! You started this game."

The light flickered on and Chara looked to the door with an annoyed look. Frisk glanced up, tears rushing down her face. Toriel stared at her with a concerned look. "My child, is everything alright? I heard you yelling."

Sobbing, Frisk jumped to her feet and hugged Toriel tightly. The monster gently returned her hug. "I had a nightmare.” Shuddering, Frisk buried her face in Toriel’s dress as she cried.

"It is alright Frisk," Toriel said as she stroked her hair. "You are safe now. Nothing can hurt you." Frisk nodded, head bobbing up and down rapidly. She clung to Toriel, grasping at her dress as she clenched her hands.

“Run to mommy,” Chara said before disappearing. “If only she knew what you’ve done.”

"I want to stay with you," Frisk said. With a kind smile, Toriel scooped the child up and walked back with her to the other bedroom. Frisk stayed curled up to Toriel's side all night, refusing to inch even a little bit away. No nightmares came that night.

The next night was different. Frisk covered up the mirror before she turned off the light and fell asleep in her own bed. Instead of peaceful dreams, she dreamt of the golden Judgement Hall. Flashes of red blood and blue magic tore through her nightmare. All possible endings to the violent fight between her and Sans played out in the dream. Some of them ended with Frisk in a pool of her own blood on the judgement hall’s floor. Others ended in the skeleton bleeding out on the ground and a dust and blood covered knife in Frisk’s hand. Frisk woke with a start. Tears rushed down her face as she leapt from bed, pulling on her coat and shoes as fast as she could with shaking hands.

Sans and Papyrus lived close by. Fumbling with the key ring on her phone, Frisk opened their door and raced inside. She ran upstairs, leaping up two steps at a time. First she peeked in on Papyrus. He was fast asleep in his racecar bed. Frisk breathed a sigh of relief and then peeked into Sans’ room. The older skeleton slept bundled up on his bed, chest moving up and down as he slept without pain or nightmares. Frisk tip-toed over and sat down on the floor beside him. She started to cry tears of relief as she realized everyone was still alright. Chara hadn’t done anything to any of them. Yawning, Sans opened his eyes and blinked at Frisk.

"what's up kid?" He asked. "it's the middle of the night." Frisk nodded, brushing tears out of her eyes. "whoa, are you alright?"

"I had a nightmare," Frisk said. Her voice shook as she spoke. She felt rather silly. Sans stared at her with a puzzled look. "I'm sorry, but could I maybe-" Sans moved over in the bed before Frisk even finished speaking. He had plenty of experience comforting Papyrus when he had nightmares. Though it was a bit strange that Frisk had gone all the way to his house. Why not just wake up Toriel?

A huge smile spread across Frisk’s cheeks as she climbed up onto the bed to curl up against her friend. She snuggled close to his chest and grasped his shirt in an attempt to get as close as possible. Sans patted her hair a few times. "night kid. don’t worry, i’m here for ya." Frisk nodded again, fighting back tears. Guilt overwhelmed her, making her feel sick to her stomach. She thought she had escaped Chara. A feeling of dread hung over her as she realized that escaping the Underground had not gotten rid of Chara. After Asriel destroyed the Barrier, Chara disappeared and Frisk was able to travel out onto the surface without seeing or hearing the girl any longer. Chara’s presence seemed to be less noticeable for the moment, but Frisk worried that the girl would get stronger.

“I’m so sorry.” Frisk buried her face in the pillow her and Sans shared. The skeleton hugged her tightly, not realizing that she was talking about something far more sinister than interrupting his sleep.

“don’t worry about it,” He said as he stifled a yawn. “after all sometimes we all get a bit bonely.” Frisk giggled. Sans smirked at her and tickled her, causing more laughter to erupt from her. "what? did i find your funny bone?" Frisk continued to laugh and kicked back at him.

"Cut it out," She said between giggling fits. Sans just smiled at her and laid back down, closing his eyes again. Frisk smiled and cuddled up against him again. For a skeleton he felt surprisingly warm. Sans hugged her close with one arm, making her smile. Content in the moment Frisk swore to herself in that moment that she would avoid Chara. She would never let anything bad happen to her friends ever again. 


	2. Chapter 2

The sun shone on the fresh snow making it reflect sunlight and glitter as Frisk sat staring down at her physics homework in the park. Undyne and Papyrus had gathered some local kids and were playing basketball a little way away. Six, almost seven, wonderful years had passed since the monsters had left the Underground. There were some monsters that ended up staying underground for part of the year, since they could not survive all year round in different weathers up on the Surface. Asgore suggested that he could help them find a new place in the world to live, but they refused. They didn’t want to leave Frisk and her “kind influence.” Apparently most of the monsters thought the only thing keeping them from getting slaughtered was Frisk.

Sans sat across from Frisk, flipping through some new joke book Toriel had found at the bookstore and lent to him. Frisk scribbled out something she had written. Physics gave her the most trouble out of all of her classes. They had just started on electricity and magnetism. All of the different equations confused her and all the answers she had been getting made zero sense. She glanced wistfully over at the basketball game.  With a sigh, Frisk tried the problem with a different equation.

Sans glanced over at her paper. "wrong equation." He pointed to one that Frisk had not yet attempted. "try that one."

"What do you know about physics?" Frisk said, scribbling down the equation. Sans shrugged and glanced back down at the joke book. When Frisk finished writing, he glanced back over at her paper.

"you wrote it down wrong. use sine, not cosine."

Frustrated, Frisk snatched up the paper and crumpled it up, throwing it into the trash. Before it could make it in, Annoying Dog snatched it out of the air and proceeded to run off with it. Frisk grabbed a new piece of paper and started over. Before Sans could offer any additional advice, Frisk said, "I thought skeletons were bad at math."

"why?"

"Because they don't have any brains!" Both of them laughed. Papyrus heard their laughter and glanced over with narrowed eyes. His bad pun senses were right on target.

"how about this one?" Sans smirked at her. Reading from the book, he said, "what do ghosts order for dessert? i scream."

“Mom already told me that one," Frisk said. After several more frustrating minutes, Frisk finished one of the problems. “I got it!” The basketball rolled over to the table followed by Papyrus.

"FRISK!" Papyrus said. "HAVE YOU NOT FINISHED THAT SCHOOL WORK YET? MY TEAM IS EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTIES AND YOUR HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED."

Frisk shook her head. “I just have a couple more problems left.”

"PERHAPS MY LAZY BROTHER CAN HELP?" Papyrus stared at Sans with a hopeful expression.

"Your lazy bones brother?" Frisk asked with a small smile. Exasperated, Papyrus rolled his eyes and sighed while Sans laughed.

"maybe another time bro," He said. "i'm reading."

Papyrus shot one look at the book Sans was reading and snorted. "I DOUBT YOU NEED MUCH MORE EDUCATION ON THE ART OF JOKES BROTHER.”

"Papyrus! Get back here so we can finish wrecking you!" Undyne screamed from the basketball court. The humans on her team all cheered. The younger skeleton scurried away with the basketball. As Frisk watched Papyrus go, she spotted a puddle a couple of feet away. She looked away before seeing her reflection, not wanting to chance it. Sans noticed and glanced over at the puddle with a puzzled look. He had noticed that Frisk seemed to have some sort of an aversion to puddles. He wondered if she was afraid of getting wet. Then again, she had no problem swimming in the ocean or at the pool.

As Frisk continued her homework, Sans pointed out several more of her errors. Over the years Frisk had noticed Sans' unexplained skills in science and math as he had helped her and the Monster Kid with their homework many times. Though even Papyrus had been able to do most of their homework for a while.

"How do you know all of this?" Frisk asked as she closed her physics book and tucked the homework away once it had been completed.

"i have hobbies." Sans did not look up from the joke book.

"Like studying quantum physics?" Frisk asked, remembering the book from Papyrus and Sans' house. It still sat on the table by the couch, just like it did at the old house. “Not a lot of people do that just for fun.”

"uh huh," Sans said, utilizing his hiding information tone of voice. Frisk stared at him until he glanced up at her. She crossed her arms and waited. "what?"

"Why won't you ever answer any questions about yourself?" Chewing on her lip, she felt frustrated. She liked Sans, he had become her best friend. More recently, she had often felt a bit more affection towards the skeleton. Her face turned a little red from the embarrassing thought.

"what's there to find out?" He asked. "science is cool." Satisfied for the moment, Frisk just nodded. She had so many questions that she knew Sans would never answer. Soon after they had left the Underground, she had even asked about the weird lab under his house. Sans refused to even acknowledge the question. He pretended he didn’t hear her. Papyrus had just told Frisk that she should ask Sans about it.

"FRISK!" Papyrus called from the basketball court. "COME HELP PLEASE! IT WOULD BE VERY EMBARRASSING TO LET ALL THE HUMANS DOWN. I WOULD NEVER WANT TO DO THAT!" Frisk nodded and stood up to walk over to the basketball court. To her surprise, Sans caught her wrist. She glanced back and he winked at her.

"if you and my bro win i'll tell you," He said as his smile turned to a slight smirk. He let go and glanced back at the joke book. Frisk frowned and rolled her eyes. There was no way they would win against Undyne, not now that the game had almost finished.

"I'll hold you to that unlikely promise," She said before running off to go join the game.

As expected, they lost 100-10.

“better luck next time.” Sans patted Frisk on the back in pretend condolence as Undyne’s team celebrated in the background. The sun had begun to set. “wanna go grab something to eat before you go home?”

“Sure,” Frisk smiled back and they headed off and around a corner using one of Sans’ shortcuts.

The restaurant and bar in front of them had provided a fun place for humans and monsters to get together. Using his experience managing the bar and restaurant in the Underground, Grillby had helped the owner get the place bustling. As Sans and Frisk walked in, both humans and monsters happily greeted the two of them. Grillby glanced over at them and nodded to them as they sat at their usual spot at the counter.

When their food arrived, Sans stared down at his plate and didn’t touch anything for a few moments. He ate a couple of fries and glanced over at Frisk, who had happily began munching on her burger. “so that one thing is coming up?” He glanced away when she stared over at him with a confused look. “the heart day thing with cards and chocolate?”

“Valentine’s Day?” Frisk asked.

“yeah,” Sans said, pushing the ketchup on his plate around with a fry and staring at it intently. “you must be awful busy making a card for some special someone.” He glanced up at her with an unreadable expression.

Frisk’s face grew hot. Why in the world was Sans asking her about Valentine’s Day? “I don’t have anyone in mind.” Frisk glanced away for a few seconds before meeting Sans’ gaze again. Her words tumbled out as if she was speed talking. “I mean, some friends and I were discussing making cards for everyone at school, but I didn’t really plan to give anyone specific anything. I mean there isn’t really anyone that I really, really like. I mean not to where um yeah, there’s no one.” Sans stared at her for a few moments.

“no one?”

“No one.” Frisk nodded. Sans didn’t seem entirely satisfied with her answer. Frisk wondered if he was asking because he wanted her to give him something. As she blushed, Frisk quickly shoved the thought out of her mind. “What about you?”

Sans looked startled. “no of course not.” Tapping his fingers nervously on the table, Sans glanced away. Had he really been that obvious?

Intrigued, Frisk leaned forward placing her face inches away from Sans’. “Do you know why skeletons are terrible liars?” She winked at him. “Because it’s easy to see right through them.” Frisk could have sworn she saw a faint blue blush on Sans’ cheeks.

“whatever kid,” He said, chuckling a bit and glancing away. He rubbed the back of his neck and snuck a glance back at her.

Smiling back at him, Frisk said, “It’s a cheesy holiday anyway.” She moved away, eating another fry.

“yeah.” Sans still looked flustered. “you know i should probably head home if i want to get twelve hours of sleep. see ya later.” Sans leapt down off the stool and left the restaurant in a hurry.

“Don’t leave me with the bill!” Frisk called after him. She sighed and leaned forward on the counter, grabbing one of the fries Sans hadn’t eaten off of his plate. He had left most of his food untouched. “I guess it will get paid at least.” Grillby glanced over at her and smiled.  

That night when Frisk returned home, she took a quick shower and got dressed in her pajamas before entering Toriel's room. "Hey mom," She said, sparing a glance around the room. As usual, the shutters on Toriel's mirror were pulled tightly shut. After several of Frisk's traumatic encounters with the mirrors around the house, Toriel had shuttered them off. She did not question Frisk's sudden irrational fear of mirrors, but did as much as she could to help her adopted daughter out. Frisk felt relieved at the unmentioned actions, since she did not want to tell Toriel that Chara had been tormenting her. She didn’t want to tell anyone.

"Hello Frisk." Toriel glanced up from the novel she had been reading. She set it aside as Frisk climbed up onto her bed and handed her the comb. "How was your day?"

"Great," Frisk said. "I played some basketball with Papyrus, Undyne, and some kids after I finished my homework. Sans and I went to dinner and I got stuck paying for it as usual." As Toriel ran the comb through Frisk's hair, the human smiled. The evening ritual was always one of her favorite ways to end the day. She and Toriel chatted as Toriel brushed out her hair. It helped quite a bit since Frisk never checked her hair in a mirror. Though, she also kept her hair cut short so it never got too out of hand. Mostly, she just enjoyed the quiet moments spent with Toriel. "How was your day?"

"A little rowdy," Toriel said with a quiet chuckle. "Some children got into a little scuffle in my class. Everything ended up alright though." Frisk nodded. "So, that one holiday is coming up.” As Frisk glanced back at her, Toriel’s eyes lit up. She tried as hard as she could to hide her mischievous look. "Valentine’s Day? Do you have anyone you think you might want to be your valentine?"

Frisk blushed when her thoughts immediately went to Sans. "No," She said. She felt Toriel place her hands on her shoulders, signifying she had finished combing her hair. "Not particularly." Frisk took the comb from Toriel and turned to face her, hoping her red face wasn't too obvious.

"No one at all child?" Toriel asked. Frisk squirmed under Toriel's narrowed eye stare.

"Maybe someone." A small smile crept onto Frisk’s face. Toriel's face lit up in delight. Her adopted daughter had their first real crush.

"Who sweetie?" She asked, clapping her hands together and leaning forward. Secretly, Toriel hoped that it would be a human. There were plenty of nice monsters, but she hoped her daughter would be more inclined to favor someone of her own species. It would work out much better for everyone. “I sure hope they are nice. Perhaps you could invite them over. I could prepare some pie.” Frisk’s blush spread across her cheeks. “Oh Frisk there is no need for you to be shy, go ahead and tell me.”

Frisk's answer came out as quiet as a whisper. "Sans."

Toriel blinked and Frisk glanced down at her lap, face burning red. Toriel opened her mouth to say something and then paused. Gently. Toriel placed a hand on Frisk’s shoulder. "What was that Frisk?" At first she had not quite believed what Frisk had said.

"Sans," Frisk said, raising her voice a little bit.

"Sans?" Toriel said with an incredulous look. "Am I hearing you correctly?" Frisk nodded as her smile disappeared. She knew Toriel wouldn’t approve. "But, my child, as much as I like Sans-" Toriel broke off and fidgeted. "Don't you think that maybe-maybe a human would be better?" She said her question slowly, unsure of how to approach the subject. Even once they were back on the surface, Frisk spent more time with monsters than humans. Toriel sometimes worried about that, but figured it would never have any negative consequences.

Frisk glanced up at Toriel. "I don't like anyone else like a Valentine sort of liking. I mean I like other humans, but as friends and not as um you know." She fumbled over her words as she spoke. “I mean, I’m not nearly as close to anyone else.”

"Surely there is someone at your school," Toriel said with a strained smile. "You've certainly met lots of other humans." Frisk just shook her head. "Oh, but Frisk you can't-"

"It doesn't really matter," Frisk said, not wanting to worry Toriel. "I'll find someone else to be my valentine or maybe I just won’t have a valentine." Toriel nodded, satisfied for now. "What about you? Perhaps you and Asgore-"

"No," Toriel said. Her voice became sharp. “I have no interest in going out with him.” Frisk looked crestfallen at her response.

"Why not?" She asked. "He was showing me these old photos and-"

"I will never forgive him for what he did," Toriel said with ice in her voice Frisk frowned. "He killed my children. I loved them as much as I love you, my child."

“He didn’t really have much of a choice,” Frisk protested. “All the monsters were depending on him and even if he had killed me, I would have wanted you to forgive him.” Frisk choose not to tell Toriel that Asgore had in fact killed her many different times. Toriel glanced at her with a surprised expression.

“You are too pure and innocent for this world my child.” Toriel ruffled her hair. “I just do not think this is a good idea.” Frisk stared down at her lap, fiddling with her hands. Perhaps getting Toriel to forgive Asgore would be almost as good as being forgiven for her own sins. She knew what it was like to be forced into doing something that was wrong. Though sometimes Frisk wondered if what she had done was much worse than what Asgore had done.

"But you're friends again!" Frisk said, hoping to convince Toriel. She knew her adopted mother was lonely. Unfortunately, Toriel was too proud to admit it.

"We are on speaking terms again.”

"There's a carnival coming into town. Maybe you two could go? As friends." Frisk's genuine smile warmed Toriel's heart.

"Perhaps," She said, giving in a bit. "You should probably head off to bed." Frisk nodded and hopped down off the bed without stumbling. She ran off to her room, glancing back to smile widely at Toriel. Her mother had begun to let her walls down.


	3. Chapter 3

As Valentine’s Day crept closer, the town filled with roses and heart shaped decorations. Young people everywhere crafted their own Valentines and gifts to try to win the affections of their crushes. Even the Monster Kid approached Frisk and asked her to be his valentine. Frisk apologized and turned him down, telling him that she had a crush on someone else. Even though Frisk tried to shove any romantic notions of Sans out of her mind, they kept crawling back.

            One afternoon two days before Valentine’s Day, Frisk sat on the floor of her room staring at blank sheets of paper. She needed some sort of release for her feelings. She folded a piece of paper in half and cut out a heart shape. On it she wrote, “Sans, you are the light of my life.” Then she drew a light bulb and signed her name. Embarrassed, Frisk crumpled it up and tossed it away. She then wrote another one, “Sans, olive you.” She got halfway through drawing an olive and then tossed out that sheet too. With a sigh, Frisk fell back on the floor staring up at the ceiling. She felt ridiculous. After several moments of wallowing in self-pity, she sat up and pulled out her cell phone, dialing Papyrus’ number.

“IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” The skeleton answered his phone after two rings. “WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU FRISK?” The young human couldn’t help but wonder if she was making a horrible, horrible mistake.

“Do you remember that time when we went on a date?” Frisk began.

Surprised, Papyrus stuttered out, “YES, I DO, BUT I REMEMBER THAT WE PARTED AS FRIENDS. VERY PLATONIC FRIENDS AND I KNOW WITH THAT HUMAN HOLIDAY COMING UP THAT YOUR OLD FEELINGS FOR ME MAY BE BUBBLING TO THE SURFACE, BUT-”

“Papyrus,” Frisk said with a quiet laugh. “I’ve already told you I never really had feelings for you.” There were a few moments of silence.

“RIGHT, OF COURSE!” Papyrus said. “THEN WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?”

“Well, you said you could uh help me ‘settle for second best?’” Frisk fell back onto the floor, staring up at the ceiling. She felt like an idiot.

“WHY OF COURSE!” Papyrus said without hesitation.

“Uh, before we keep talking,” Frisk said. “Is Sans around?”

“NO, SHALL I GO GET-”

“No!” Frisk sprung back up to a sitting position. “Listen Papyrus, I uh, I don’t really know how to say this.” Frisk stood up and began to pace her room, striding from the window back to her bed and then over from her desk over and over again. “Listen, you cannot tell Toriel or anyone else what I am about to tell you. Okay Papyrus? Promise.”

“OF COURSE,” Papyrus said, a note of excitement present in his voice. “I PROMISE FRISK!”

“I have a little bit of a-” Frisk began to say and then broke off. She shook her head, feeling her face growing hot from embarrassment. Sans was much more to her than just a simple crush. “I really like Sans.”

“OF COURSE YOU DO!” Papyrus said. “WE ALL REALLY LIKE SANS! HE’S THE SECOND COOLEST MONSTER AROUND.” Frisk shook her head, feeling more and more embarrassed. She wondered if she should have gone to someone else to discuss her feelings. Then again, no one knew Sans better than Papyrus. Suddenly, Papyrus gasped in realization. “OF COURSE DEAR FRIEND, SANS IS THE SECOND BEST MONSTER AROUND! IT MUST BE HIM YOU WANT TO DATE! CORRECT?”

Mortified that he had figured it out, Frisk tapped her foot on the floor and stopped pacing. What a horrible idea it was to tell Papyrus. She sighed. “Yes.” There was no way Papyrus could ever keep a secret. Then again, she needed to tell someone else besides Toriel. She wanted to hear opinions that weren’t clouded by motherly concern.

“WE SHOULD MEET AT THE PARK TO DISCUSS THIS FURTHER!” Papyrus said. “THIS IS ALL VERY NEW AND EXCITING FRISK! DO NOT WORRY FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL HELP YOU WITH YOUR NEWFOUND LOVE!” Frisk blushed even more, surprised at how happy Papyrus sounded. “BRING YOUR BEST VALENTINE MAKING MATERIALS! NYEH HEH HEH!” The phone clicked as the call ended. Frisk sighed and stared at her phone. She threw all the blank papers, colored pencils, markers and scissors into her backpack. After a moment’s hesitation, she also grabbed several bottles of glitter and glue. 

Toriel glanced up from a joke book she was reading when she heard the pounding of Frisk’s feet against the stairs. “My child, you seem to be in quite the hurry.”

“I’m going to hang out with Papyrus.” Frisk smiled as she inched toward the door. Toriel just nodded and looked back down at her joke book.

“Well, it’s certainly no fibula if I say that sounds like great fun,” She said with a wide smile. Frisk giggled and shot out the door, letting it slam behind her. With a sigh of relief, she continued to hurry to the park. At least Toriel did not suspect anything.

When Frisk arrived she was dismayed to see that Papyrus had brought along Undyne and Alphys. “Papyrus!” She said with a scolding tone. “I told you this needed to be a secret.”

“A SECRET IS STILL WELL-KEPT IF IT’S AMONG GREAT FRIENDS.” Papyrus just smiled back at her. Undyne chuckled and slung an arm around Frisk’s shoulders.

“Our young human friend,” She said. “Ready for that intense feeling of love! Let the passion burn through you and then express it on this Valentine’s Day card!” Frisk yelped as Undyne squeezed her a bit too hard.

“I am not very good at this.” Alphys wrung her hands. “But I’ll do my best to help. I bet I can at least give some good input.”

“OF COURSE WE MUST MAKE THE CARD MAGNIFICENT!” Papyrus paced around the picnic table. “WE WILL WOE MY BROTHER INTO LOVING YOU BACK!” After a moment of consideration, Papyrus added, “THOUGH I DO NOT BELIEVE IT WILL BE TOO DIFFICULT.”

“Be quiet!” Frisk said, feeling her face turn red. “What if someone hears?” She pulled out of Undyne’s grasp and ran over to Papyrus, tugging at his arm. “I don’t want the whole town to find out!”

“You have no concept of secrets,” Undyne softly punched Papyrus’ arm. “That’s the only reason Alphys and I were roped into this.” She turned back to Frisk with a wide, toothy grin. “Now Frisk, let’s see your passionate expressions on these cards!”

Frisk sighed and sat down at the picnic table. She pulled out her papers and writing utensils then sketched out a simple card. She wrote, “Sans, I am really mitten with you.” After that, she drew a mitten around the words and signed it, before shoving it towards her friends. Alphys managed a small, forced smile when she saw it. Unydyne and Papyrus’ face both twisted in disgust.

“This is horrible!” Undyne exclaimed. “Where’s the passion?!”

“I think it’s sweet,” Alphys said. “Uh, it has a nice joke on it.” 

“THIS JOKE IS TERRIBLE!” Papyrus said, siding with Undyne. “YOU MUST USE A BETTER PUN FRISK!”

“And more color!” Undyne added. “Show your passion on the paper!” Frisk blushed and nodded. She got another piece of paper and began to cut it into a heart.

“That’s a bit cliché,” Alphys said, placing her hand over Frisk’s. “Way overused, don’t make a card like that.” Frisk paused and then sighed and set that failure of a card aside too.

That’s how the next hour went by. Frisk tried card after card, which all of her friends rejected. They’d say the puns were too bad or there wasn’t enough glitter or there was too much glitter. A nice pile of failed cards had gathered on the table. “This isn’t going well at all,” Frisk covered her face and groaned in frustration. Looking up, she stared over at her friends, who all grinned at her. “What will it take to impress you guys?”

“Well this one has a good start.” Alphys handed back a Valentine’s Day card with two otters drawn on it.

It read, “You’re my significant otter.”

“NO!” Papyrus shook his head. “ALL OF THESE PUNS ARE TOO OVERUSED! WE NEED A BETTER, NEW UNIQUE ONE! SOMETHING SANS WOULD NOT HAVE HEARD OF BEFORE!”

Undyne nodded in agreement. “How about-”

“what are you guys doing?” All four of them jumped when they heard Sans’ voice. Frisk snatched up all the cards, holding them to her chest. Frisk felt her entire face flush a deep red. Sans tilted his head slightly, grinning at her. Frisk had somehow managed to get glitter in her hair and had a tiny piece of paper stuck to her cheek.

“Nothing!” Papyrus kicked away a Valentine’s Day card that he had crumpled up away from the table.

“nothing? sounds like my kind of fun.” He glanced at all the cards in Frisk’s hands. Judging by the glitter and hearts, Sans guessed they were Valentine’s cards. He felt a twinge of jealousy. Frisk had lied to him. Who could she be thinking of? They were at least fifteen different cards. Had she planned to ask out more than one person? “what are those?”

“Nothing!” A small puff of glitter fell from Frisk’s hair as she shook her head back and forth.

“AH, SANS, SINCE YOU ARE HERE. I HAVE REMEMBERED SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE SHOULD SPEAK ABOUT IMMEDIATELY!” Papyrus waved his hands at the others, gesturing for them to leave. “LET US GO SPEAK ABOUT IT NOW AND ALONE!” He leapt to his feet and began to push Sans away. Undyne jumped up as well and tossed Frisk over one shoulder and Alphys over the other.

“Let’s retreat.” She ran away, ignoring confused looks from others in the park. Sans watched them go with narrowed eyes.

“what are you guys doing?” Sans said, eyeing his brother. “throw me a bone.”

“THAT IS NOT HILARIOUS IN THE SLIGHTEST!” Papyrus said. “AND WE ARE DOING VERY TOP SECRET IMPORTANT FRIENDSHIP THINGS!” Sans felt a little bit hurt that he might have been left out of the “top secret important friendship things.” Papyrus noticed his brother’s darkened expression the instant it appeared. “I MEAN, NOT THAT YOU ARE NOT INVITED! IT’S JUST THAT FRISK NEEDED JUST US THREE!”

“oh?” Why not invite him? He would be able to provide great Valentine’s Day puns for those cards.

“YES!” Papyrus said, rambling off excuses, “SHE WANTED IT TO REMAIN A SURPRISE FOR YOU. YOU WILL LOVE IT! NYEH HEH HEH!” Sans eyed his brother, but accepted the obvious lies for the time being. “PERHAPS YOU SHOULD WORK ON SOMETHING ELSE AT HOME?”

“what?”

“A VALENTINE’S DAY CARD FOR FRISK!” Papyrus said with a wide smile. “THE HOLIDAY IS ONLY A FEW DAYS AND WITH YOUR WORK ETHIC YOU SHOULD GET STARTED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. SURELY YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT.”

Embarrassed, Sans glanced away. He wondered when his brother would stop bugging him about the Valentine’s Day card. “why would i do that?”

“BECAUSE YOU ARE VERY OBVIOUSLY MADLY IN LOVE WITH HER!” Papyrus said in a matter of fact tone. “IN FACT I DO NOT THINK ANYONE COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE OBVIOUSLY IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE THAN YOU ARE SO VERY OBVIOUSLY IN LOVE WITH FRISK. YOU SPEND ALL YOUR TIME WITH HER, YOU-”

“papyrus, you are dead wrong.” Sans winked at his brother, who fumed at him.

“STOP HIDING YOUR FEELINGS BEHIND PUNS BROTHER!” 

After another hour of work at Undyne’s house, Frisk hesitantly pushed her last bright idea toward her friends. She had shaped it into a heart despite Alphys’ protests and had not added any glitter, which Undyne thought was a crime. The card said, “Sans, you are my singularity. From, Frisk.” There was a drawing of a scientific diagram of a black hole with the singularity at the bottom. As she awaited their opinion, Frisk wrung her hands together. That was her last bright idea. After that, she doubted that she could manage to think of any other pun.

All three of her friends beamed at the card. “It’s perfect!” They exclaimed together. Frisk gently picked up the card again and stared at it. She hoped that the card wasn't too cheesy. She figured Sans would appreciate the physics pun. Of course, he may never catch the deeper meaning behind the clever pun. Of all the possible timelines, if Frisk could just choose one thing to stay the same forever, she would always choose her friendship with Sans. That’s why Chara’s actions always broke her heart.

Noticing that Frisk seemed lost in thought, her other friends spared a confused glance at each other. "Well Frisk," Undyne said. "We need something more to go along with your card. I have heard that this human tradition requires treats! We can whip up the best treats around!" Undyne laughed maniacally and headed into the kitchen. Frisk stored the card in a safe place in her backpack before following Undyne into the kitchen. She felt a bit nervous as to what the cooking may result in. Knowing Undyne’s cooking skills, Frisk worried they may burn down the house in an attempt to make anything.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day was a Friday, which meant she had to sit through eight miserable hours of school before she could give the card to Sans. Valentine's Day fell on the Saturday after that. Tapping her pencil on the desk, Frisk stared at the clock. She willed time to go just a bit faster.  As soon as the final bell rang she raced out the door in an instant, ignoring the confused looks from her classmates. Most of the snow from the previous week had already melted and Frisk splashed through several puddles as she ran. Across the street from the school was a huge hill that overlooked most of town. Frisk knew firsthand that under a tree on that hill was Sans’ favorite afternoon napping spot. Though most places in town were Sans’ favorite napping spots.

Frisk rounded the corner, yanking the valentine and the box of burnt cookies out of her bag. At least they didn't burn down Undyne's house this time. Frisk felt her heart pounding and couldn't help but feel nervous as she walked up the hill. Sans must have heard her coming because he had gotten up before she got there. "Uh," Frisk said. “Uh…” Her voice caught in her throat and she felt her hands tremble. Wondering if she made a horrible mistake, Frisk froze out of embarrassment.

Sans smirked at her. "cat got your tongue?" He asked and then glanced at the card and box in her hands. Realization hit him. No wonder Papyrus had shooed him away and then insisted he made a card for Frisk. All along Frisk had been making a Valentine's Day card for him. He felt embarrassed, thinking back to the unfinished card he had chucked into the trash tornado. Frisk still didn't say anything and held out the card and box to him. Her face had gradually begun to grow more and more red. 

Frisk was about to speak, but got too flustered and just stared at her feet. Rocking back and forth on her heels, she peeked up as Sans took the card and box from her. Holding her breath, she watched as he read it.

The card said, "Sans, you are my singularity. From, Frisk." Sans stared at it in surprise. The diagram drawn under the words made it even better. Inside the box were burnt heart shaped sugar cookies. Everything about the sweet present fit Frisk. She was always so generous and so kind, always so wonderful.

Except in the timelines where she wasn't.

Sans shook the thought out of his head, but still felt guilty as he glanced up at the human standing in front of him. She deserved much more than a messed up science experiment of a skeleton. She deserved much more than him. That was why he never finished the valentine’s card in the first place. "so i'm guessing you're asking me to be your valentine?" Sans asked. Frisk nodded, still too nervous to speak. "listen kid, this is all really sweet and all, but i’m not really looking for anything like that." The lie felt awkward. After all, she was everything he ever wanted.

 She figured that there was some semblance of a chance that Sans had liked her back. After all, he had been bugging her about Valentine’s Day when they went out to dinner. She shuffled her feet in embarrassment. “Oh.”

The sad look on Frisk's face almost made Sans backtrack, but instead he said, "i'll be your platonic valentine of course. we can go to the carnival tomorrow. i've heard it'll be a surefire festival of fun."

"Really?" Frisk’s smile returned to her face. She realized it was a bit silly of her to hope that Sans felt the same way. Regardless, they could still be great friends. "That would be so much fun!" Sans nodded, tucking the presents into his coat. Before Frisk could say anything else her phone began to ring.

"Mom?" She said, answering it.

"Oh Frisk," Toriel said with a sigh. "I hate to bother you, but Annoying Dog has gotten stuck in the cat door at the neighbor’s home again. The humans that live there would be really grateful if you could get him out." Frisk laughed and nodded.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Frisk said, before hanging up. She glanced at Sans with a smile. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"i'll meet you there," Sans said with a small, different sort of smile. It was a bit gentler than Frisk was used to. She blushed again and then hurried off to go rescue Annoying Dog before he caused any more trouble.

After Frisk had left, Sans pulled out the card again. He stared at it for several long moments before tucking it away and sighing. He cursed his ability to see into other timelines. He also cursed both Gaster and himself for thinking that stupid machine could help the future of monsters. It had been a long shot and Sans had suffered because of it.

For her platonic date the next day, Frisk sported a purple sweater and a nice pair of jeans with tan boots. She found the best pairs of clothes that had not been torn from rough housing with her friends. Then Frisk felt rather silly as the day was not supposed to be a real date. It was a platonic date. She ran a brush through her hair and nodded. Completely platonic. She glanced at a purple ribbon sitting on her desk and pinned it in her hair. Absolutely platonic. 

Sans had still been sleeping when Papyrus kicked his door open. “GOOD MORNING SANS!” He threw open the curtains and Sans glared at him. “IT IS A WONDERFUL DAY AND YOU MUST GET OUT OF BED! FRISK IS PROBABLY WAITING FOR YOU.” With a flick of his wrist, Sans used his magic to shut the curtains again. “HEY!”

“sorry papyrus,” Sans said, rolling back over. “i am a real lazy bones.” Papyrus crossed his arms and groaned. Before he could reprimand his brother, he caught sight of a familiar looking Valentine’s Day card. Amongst all the clutter in Sans’ room, the card seemed to actually be in a decent place, propped up against the lamp on Sans’ bedside table. Papryus smiled at the sight.

“WELL IF YOU DO NOT GET UP SOON, FRISK WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED!” Papyrus said as he left the room. “SURELY YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED FOR YOUR FIRST DATE WITH HER! I AM SURE IT WILL GO QUITE WELL. NYEH HEH HEH!” Sans peeked out of the covers and waited until he heard Papyrus’ footsteps fade away as the younger skeleton walked downstairs. Then Sans got up, flinging back the covers. He trudged over and opened the curtains, smiling.

The carnival was magnificent just like every year. Frisk waited at the entrance, but she stared into the festivities with an excited look. It was nothing new, she had gone every year since coming back to the Surface. Beyond the gates were more than ten different rides and attractions along with hundreds of booths. Half of the stuffed animals in her room had come from that traveling carnival. Since it had arrived on a holiday all sorts of hearts and flowers also decorated the various attractions. Frisk spotted at least a half a dozen different colored roses, all hung up around the main entrance.

“Frisk!” Undyne said, appearing behind Frisk with Alphys at her side. “I presume that since you’re here that Valentine got your point across!” A faint blush appeared on Frisk’s cheeks as she shook her head. “What? It failed?!”

“No, not really,” Frisk said. “It, well, Sans just wanted to come platonically.” As she spoke, Frisk twirled her thumbs around one another. Alphys nodded and smiled at Frisk, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It’s a good start,” She said, while Undyne roared in displeasure. Frisk flinched.

“No, this is unacceptable!” She said. “We will-”

“hey guys.” Sans appeared out of nowhere as usual. Both Undyne and Alphys jumped. Sans smirked over at them. “come to hang out?” 

Both Alphys and Undyne looked to Frisk, who shook her head and then they looked at each other.

“Ma-Maybe later,” Alphys said.

“Of course!” Undyne said at the same time. Frisk sighed and just shrugged at Sans. Alphys grabbed Undyne and pulled her down to whisper something in her ear. Nodding, Undyne said, “I mean, we just wanted to crush you two at the bumper cars and then we will go our separate ways!” Alphys gave Frisk a small thumbs up and Frisk nodded back, giving her a grateful smile.

“whatever you say,” Sans said, heading into the carnival.

Bumper cars had become an opening tradition for the group of friends whenever the carnival rolled into town. Alphys watched from the sidelines as Frisk, Sans, and Undyne moved up in line. Sans got in a bumper car first and before Frisk could go to the next one, Undyne shoved her into the passenger seat. Sans glanced at her with a surprised look. “you okay kid?”

“I just tripped.” Frisk scrambled to sit up, She thinking of a lie for not getting in her bumper car. “And uh I’m still kind of sleepy, so I figure I shouldn’t be driving.” It was a lame excuse and Sans knew it. He just shrugged and choose not to question it. When Frisk glanced back at Undyne, the monster gave her a confident thumbs up and a toothy smile. Frisk just sighed and turned back around, buckling up.

As soon as the whirring electricity came to life, Undyne slammed her own bumper car into them full force and then drove away, laughing. Frisk did not expect Sans to give chase, but had to hold on for dear life as the bumper car spun out of control and then headed straight for Undyne. Alphys took pictures from the sidelines, laughing and waving to them. Frisk shrieked in joy as the cars slammed together, bounced off of walls, and slammed into the walls. Time ticked down and Undyne had succeeded in landing many more hits. Frisk was surprised to see that Sans looked a bit annoyed at the possible loss. He lost all the time and never seemed to care.

“time to kick it up a notch,” Sans said, glancing at Frisk with a mischievous look.

“What do you mean?” Frisk asked with a confused look.

Sans’ left eye glowed blue and Frisk jumped. The look still startled her even though Sans’ expression looked nothing like what she had seen in the Judgement Hall. He had a friendly look, a mischievous look. The blue magic wove itself down to the wheels, forcing them to spin faster. “i think undyne’s going to have a bad time.”

“Is this really a good-” Frisk’s question got cut off as the bumper cart screeched forward and Frisk screamed, half in genuine fear and half in delight. Their car slammed into Undyne’s causing her to spin out of control. Frustrated, Undyne struggled to gain control, but right as she did, Frisk and Sans’ car slammed into hers again.

“I will not let you win!” Undyne said over the noise of the screeching cars. She struggled to gain control as her car continued to be knocked into and sent spinning. After a few more hilarious minutes the bumper cars slowed to a stop. Sans stretched, smirking over at Undyne.

“looks like you lost,” He said with a shrug. “bumper luck next time.” Undyne rolled her eyes and stormed off, dragging Alphys away. Frisk waved at them and then turned back to Sans. They were alone. Her heart skipped several beats. “want to ride those swings?” Sans asked, nodding over to another ride a little way away. Frisk nodded and quickly followed him as he exited the bumper car.

Their platonic “date” ended up being just the same as if they had been hanging out together. They rode all the rides, played carnival games, and made terrible jokes. Then, they went to the funhouse. There were slides, rooms that seemed to rotate, and even places where air shot out, ruffling Frisk’s hair as she laughed. Then there was the mirror room. Frisk froze before she entered it. Not too many people were at the carnival still since it had been getting late and the fireworks show would be starting soon. If you wanted to get a good seat, you had to arrive at the beach hours before the actual show. Therefore, Sans and Frisk were all alone in the funhouse.

Sans made several faces in the distorted mirrors chuckling to himself as Frisk followed several inches behind, staring at the mirrors with wide eyes. She had not seen herself in a mirror in years. As they walked down the corridor and passed a few normal mirrors. Frisk noticed how much older she looked. She had not grown much taller and in fact was only a few inches taller than Sans. However, her face looked much different. As she paused to study it, she felt a cold chill.

“It’s me,” A voice said and the image changed. Suddenly it was Chara staring back at Frisk. She had not changed one bit. Her eyes still glowed blood red on her pale skin. Frisk leapt backwards, scrambling to get away from her. The cold, hard surface of another mirror pressed against her back. “Nowhere to run Frisk.” Frisk spun around to find Sans. The skeleton was gone. He must have wandered off when Frisk was lost in thought.

“Leave me alone please,” Frisk whispered to the mirrors. “I’m sorry about what happened to you. Please, just leave me alone!” She hurried forward, trying to ignore the evil glares coming from all the mirrors. She ran into a dead end and at least ten more mirrors waited for them. All of the reflections changed to show Chara.

“Don’t you want to play again?” Chara asked, stepping forward and placing both of her palms against the glass. The mirrors seemed to bend, almost as if they were straining to contain the demon girl. A tendril of black shadows reached out towards Frisk. She screamed and ran away, feeling the tears building up in her eyes. “Where are you going Frisk?” The mirrors all chanted as the black tendrils kept trying to grab her. “There’s nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.” Frisk couldn’t think straight and ran into another dead end. Tears begun to stream down her face.

“Go away!” She screamed. Her knees buckled and she felt herself falling to the ground.

“Glass might make a nice knife,” Chara said, leaning further from the mirrors, closer to Frisk. The mirrors seemed like they could break at any moment. “Break the glass Frisk. Grab a shard.” Frisk shook her head, but the movement felt sluggish. Chara had the upper hand. She was regaining control. “That stupid skeleton won’t suspect a thing.” Chara laughed, a shrill and horrible sound. “Remember how fun it was to kill him?” Frisk buried her head in her knees. She could feel Chara’s influence all around her. When she peeked up even for a brief moment, she saw the black tendrils creeping closer, grabbing her ankles. She shrieked and tried to pull away.

“Get away from me!” Frisk screamed Chara smiled. The demon already had an advantage. She owned Frisk’s SOUL.

A mirror shattered next to Frisk. She struggled to get away, pulling against the blackness that was enveloping her. In her struggles, she toppled over, still sobbing. “It’s time to finish our game Frisk.”

When Sans heard Frisk’s first scream, he whirled around. He had not even noticed the girl had disappeared. “frisk?” He said, backtracking his steps. Another scream sounded out from a different direction. “frisk!” Sans continued to retrace his steps and followed a path back towards where he last saw Frisk. Frustrated, he turned a corner and used a shortcut to teleport to her. “frisk, kid, are you all right?” A mirror had shattered and Frisk laid face down on the ground. When she first glanced up, her expression sent chills down Sans’ spine. It was a look that could only be described as pure evil. A look that he had seen on her face only in his nightmares.

“Here’s your chance.” Chara’s voice reminded Frisk of a cat’s purr. Her vision blurred as she saw fear flash across Sans’ eyes. “Kill him.”

Letting out a sob, Frisk tore her gaze away. “frisk?” Sans took a hesitant step forward. When Frisk looked back at him, her expression had changed. Tears streamed down Frisk’s face and she looked terrified. Sans had never seen her look so scared before.

“Sans,” She cried out. She moved her right hand to sit up as Sans rushed over to her and then they both saw that she was grasping a long shard of glass. After flinching Frisk dropped it and kicked it away. Blood oozed out from a deep cut on her palm.

“what happened?” Sans glanced around for any signs of danger. Frisk did not reply, but stared down at the bloody glass in shock. She couldn’t remember picking up the shard. Blood dripped from her hand onto the ground, forming a puddle. Chara had picked it up. Frisk’s lower lip began to tremble. Chara had almost killed Sans. “kid, let’s get you some bandages.” Sans touched her shoulder and Frisk did not move. “your hand is bleeding.” Frisk did not reply. Her gaze looked far away. Sans knelt down by her and took her hands into his. Surprised, Frisk glanced over at him. “frisk?”

Tears began to stream down Frisk’s face again. “I’m scared of mirrors,” She said, her voice barely above a whisper. As she trembled, she pulled away, clenching her hands together. “I’m so sorry.” Sans wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Frisk buried her face in his shoulder. “I’m so sorry!”

“it’s okay. i got ya.”


	5. Chapter 5

Once Frisk’s hand was bandaged up and carnival officials cleaned up the broken mirror, night had drawn closer. Sans got ice cream for both of them and they sat together on a bench near the Ferris wheel to eat. As Frisk ate her ice cream, Sans noticed that her hands still trembled. Every few moments, she glanced around, eyeing anyone that passed by. Once Frisk finished eating, she clenched her hands tightly in her lap and stared down at them. Sans watched her with a worried expression. He should have known she was afraid of reflections. It explained her aversion to puddles and why all the mirrors in Toriel’s house were shuttered. The only thing that seemed unclear was where her irrational fear had come from.

Frisk glanced over at Sans. He smiled back, but Frisk could still tell he was worried for her. Embarrassed, Frisk glanced away again. “you okay?” Sans reached up and touched her cheek. Surprised, Frisk felt herself blush. He tucked several stray strands of hair back behind her ear. “frisk?”

 “Please don’t tell anyone else,” Frisk said. “I-I don’t want them to worry.”

“not even tori?”

“Especially not Mom.” Frisk stared down at her lap. Sans shrugged and stood up.

“you know how i feel about making promises,” He said. “but i guess we can keep it between us.” He offered his hand out to Frisk, who stared back with a surprised look. “the day’s almost over, we should get out there and have a bone-tastic time before it’s too late.” Frisk felt her hand shaking a little as she reached out and grasped Sans’ hand. He intertwined their fingers together as she stood. Together they walked over toward the Ferris Wheel. 

Toriel's own platonic "date" with Asgore had gotten off to quite a rocky start. The former wife and husband had spent most of the time not even talking and just strolled around the carnival grounds. They went on some of the attractions, but Toriel did not seem to be having fun at all.

"Your majesty, hello!" As they walked around the booths, the unfortunate couple ran right into Alphys and Undyne. "Having a fun date?" Undyne asked.

"It's not a date," Toriel said, tensing up. Asgore looked crestfallen, but nodded in agreement.

"Well, either way this place is always fun," Alphys said, trying to lighten the mood. Her arms overflowed with plushies. All of which Undyne had won for her in various carnival games. Toriel nodded and was about to say something else when she glanced over at the line for the Ferris Wheel. She froze in surprise. Nearing the front of the line were Sans and Frisk. Under typical conditions, that would not be odd. Frisk and Sans were best friends, they hung out all the time. The detail that surprised Toriel was that they were holding hands.

"Ah." Asgore followed Toriel's gaze. "They must be on a date, how sweet."

"It is not sweet!" Toriel exclaimed, uncharacteristically angry. Both Undyne and Alphys exchanged a nervous look. "I told Frisk that she should date a human." Asgore looked nervous as Toriel glared at him. The monster then whirled around to face Undyne and Alphys. "You two should talk to her! She'll listen to her friends better than me. I know it is hard for her to understand, but it would just work out better in the end." Toriel sighed. “Monsters live much longer than humans.” Her eyes turned back to look at Sans and Frisk. “I also worry what other humans would think. Please talk to Frisk and explain that to her.”

"Uh." Alphys shot a nervous glance at Undyne. "Ma-Maybe we could just let them work it out? I-I mean Frisk is really clever and kind and she’s not like other humans so-" Toriel glared at her and Alphys stopped midsentence, paling a bit.

"Perhaps you should talk with her," Asgore said, hoping to get back on Toriel's good side. "I would appreciate it, Undyne."

The former leader of the Royal Guard gave Asgore a strained smile. Out of loyalty to him she knew she should march right over there and confront Frisk and Sans. On the other hand, Frisk seemed so happy. She peeked over to look at Sans and Frisk. They stood giggling there together, probably at some stupid joke. They were also at the front of the line. After a few more seconds, they were out of reach. "Oh no, they got away! We'll have to talk to them after they exit the wheel!" Undyne grabbed Alphys and dragged her away. "But we will! I swear it!" Asgore waved goodbye and Toriel just frowned before turning to walk away.

"Are we really going to break up their date?" Alphys asked with a sad tone. "Wouldn't that be quite mean? Plus, they are so in love! They’re quickly becoming of my favorite ships!"

"We'll pretend to talk to Frisk!" Undyne said, shaking her head. "Then tell Toriel her passion is too strong and there was nothing we could do about it. Ha ha ha!" A strained smile spread across her face, Alphys just sighed.

From the ride in the Ferris Wheel Frisk and Sans could see out across the landscape all the way to the ocean. The sun had been swallowed by the waves and a few stars twinkled in the sky. Off in the ocean, Frisk could see Onionsan and several other sea monsters. She smiled. Lights began to flicker on all across the carnival. Soon it was just as lit up as it had been during the day. The lighting made for a romantic mood as their soft glow illuminated everything below. Frisk glanced over at Sans, a light blush spreading across her cheeks. He had not let go of her hand since they left the bench. It was obvious how worried he was about her. Frisk couldn't bear to tell him the truth. Her own screw ups and nightmares were something she needed to learn to cope with on her own. She glanced out across the carnival again, lost in her own thoughts. 

"knock. knock," Sans said.

"Who's there?" Frisk replied, wondering what joke Sans had up his sleeve.

"amish."

"Amish who?" Frisk stared back with a confused look.

"i miss you too. you're zoning out over there Frisk." He gently squeezed her hand and Frisk's face turned even redder.

"I was just thinking about how pretty it is outside," Frisk said, glancing out again. "It's nice to be able to see all the lights and how everyone having fun down there." There were monsters and humans all scattered throughout the carnival intermingling with one another. "I'm glad that everyone's getting along so well."

Sliding closer to Frisk, Sans peeked out as well. "well it's cause of you." Frisk smiled slightly, but felt a huge weight in her stomach. She had prevented this happiness many more times than she had created it. It was her fault that Chara still lingered around.

The smile on Frisk's face was strained. Sans watched her, narrowing his eyes. She never seemed to show much recognition of the other drastically different timeline. Perhaps she had never experienced it. Perhaps the Frisk Sans was currently with had never reset the timeline. That was at least a nice thought to hold onto. Frisk turned and met Sans’ gaze. “Hey Sans,” She began, leaning a bit closer. Sans blushed as she moved closer. “Um I-” The Ferris wheel lurched and their foreheads crashed together. Embarrassed, Frisk pulled back, blushing even more and rubbing her forehead. Sans burst out laughing at how red Frisk's face turned. She shoved him playfully. The Ferris wheel had begun its descent back down. Then the fireworks started to go off. Frisk turned to watch them with a delighted look.

“this carnival sure does have flare.” Sans stared out the window at the fireworks. In a way, they had secured the best seats for the show. He rubbed the back of Frisk’s hand with his thumb. Light from the fireworks illuminated the area. Sans blushed as he watched the lights dance across Frisk’s face.

The not so platonic date after all ended with a quiet stroll back to the hill by the playground. Since the sun had set all of the stars were visible in the sky. The fireworks show had ended, but there was still plenty of beauty to watch. Sans and Frisk sat side by side staring up at the sky. Then Frisk's phone began to ring.

"Hello?"                                                         

"HOW WAS THE DATE?" Papyrus screamed into the phone, causing Frisk to flinch back. "YOU MUST TELL ME ALL THE DETAILS! AFTER ALL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAD A HAND IN SETTING THE WHOLE AFFAIR UP! SURELY MY BROTHER HAS FALLEN HEAD OVER HEELS FOR-" Frisk hung up, feeling her face turn a dark red. Immediately the phone begun to ring again, but Frisk silenced it. She glanced back over at Sans with an apologetic look. His face was unreadable.

Papyrus was right. Of course Sans’ brother had noticed his feelings for Frisk long before Sans had. Perhaps he was just being lazy in even admitting his own feelings. Either way, Papyrus began to drop hints in a blindingly obvious way. He would say things like, "I PROMISED FRISK THAT SHE COULD DATE THE SECOND COOLEST MONSTER AROUND!" Then he would stare at Sans. "I WONDER WHO THAT COULD BE? PERHAPS YOU KNOW SANS? THIS MONSTER MUST BE VERY COOL, LIKE YOU! YOU ARE AN EXTREMELY COOL MONSTER!" Then as Valentine’s Day crept toward them Papyrus began depositing “make your own valentine” kits in Sans’ room. Regardless, Papyrus had gotten exactly what he planned.

"knock. knock." Frisk rolled her eyes. Of course Sans had to ruin the romantic moment.

"Who's there?" Frisk asked.

Sans paused. There were a million other knock knock jokes he could say instead. After a moment, he said, "olive."

"Olive who?" Frisk said. Her voice caught in her throat. She must have passed out a long time again and was dreaming.

"olive you." Grinning, Sans blushed. He then wondered if it was too late to say something else to diffuse the tension. Frisk's eyes were wide in shock.

Meanwhile, Alphys and Undyne watched from the bushes a little way away. They were waiting for the perfect moment to end the date and talk to Frisk. At least that's what Undyne kept insisting. It seemed more like she kept stalling so they wouldn’t have to do anything. "What are they saying?" Undyne asked, straining to hear. Alphys shrugged.

"It looks pretty intense," She said. "Like the scene in the Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie game where Mew Mew confesses her undying love and...oh." Both Undyne and Alphys exchanged a worried look. Toriel would kill them if Frisk ever did anything like that.

Frisk stared back Sans for a while as she struggled to speak again. Then she said, "Knock. Knock."   

"who's there?" Sans said with a puzzled look. While his joke had been good, he doubted that Frisk would just going to repeat it back to him.

"Al." Frisk felt her face grow hotter and hotter.

"al who?"                                                       

"Al give you a-a kiss if you open the door.” Leaning forward until they were inches apart, Frisk smiled at him. Sans grinned back.

"that one was-" He didn't get to finish his statement.

True to her word, Frisk kissed him. Sans’ eyes stretched wide in surprise, before he closed them and kissed her back, wrapping an arm around her to pull her closer. He could feel Frisk’s heart pounding in her chest. Grinning, Sans thought to himself about how sweet and gentle the moment was. Then it was interrupted by Undyne.

"Fr-Frisk!" Undyne exclaimed, popping out of the bushes. Frisk yelped in surprise and pulled away from Sans, who looked stars truck. "I-I-I have to speak with you!" Undyne said, flustered. "Let's go!" With ease, Undyne threw Frisk over her shoulder and bolted away.

"Undyne!" Frisk exclaimed. "Put me down! This isn't funny!" She struggled and kicked wildly, but couldn't get free of Undyne's grasp. The two of them had disappeared off into the distance in less than a minute.

Meanwhile Alphys awkwardly stood there with Sans. The skeleton's magic had created a pale blue blush on his face and he looked shocked. "Well," Alphys said with a laugh. "I uh I guess that's one way to have a first kiss with someone?" Sans glanced at her with an embarrassed look. "Look uh Undyne and I, well, Toriel told us to!"

"what?" Sans asked, confused.

"Toriel was worried and wanted us to uh," Alphys said, but didn't finish the sentence. It was already obvious.

Sans’ expression darkened. "well, she's right," He said and kicked at the ground. "frisk shouldn't date me." He sighed and glanced over at Alphys. His chest felt tight as he considered all of the past timelines and everything that had happened in them.

"I don't think Toriel's right!" She said, shaking her head. "I mean, she doesn’t even know-"

"she's right." Sans glanced away. "she doesn't even know everything. all the reasons why she's right."

Alphys shook her head again. "No she's not right!" She said. "And neither are you!" Sans glanced at her with a surprised look. "Sans I know that after what happened you feel like-"

"you don't know how i feel." Sans’ pupils and friendly look disappeared. He almost said, “you don’t remember how i feel,” but bit back the words.

"I can guess," Alphys said, shrinking back a bit. "I know that you blame yourself for what happened to Gaster. I felt the same way, but Papyrus and everyone else taught me you have to believe in yourself! You can't stay stuck in the past and keep thinking you're worthless and a failure and how you break everything you touch and-and-" Tears bubbled up at the corners of Alphys eyes. She wiped them away. "You should give your own happiness a chance!" Sans didn't reply. He had tried many times to give his own happiness a chance. The resets always ruined everything. Only he could remember what had happened. Even Frisk seemed unaware of some of the timelines. With an angry sigh, Sans shoved his hands into his pocket and walked off. "Sans, please!" Long ago, Sans had learned that he would never be able to be happy.

Once Undyne felt like they were far enough away, she put Frisk down. Frisk crossed her arms and stared up at her, pursing her lips. "Did mom see me?" She asked. Undyne sighed and glanced away with an embarrassed look.

"You know I support your passion completely!" Undyne said. "But Toriel doesn’t think it's a good idea. Also, Asgore backed her up so I was obligated to at least pretend to reprimand you." Frisk sighed and stared down at her feet.

"Do you think Toriel's right?" Frisk said. When Undyne did not reply, Frisk glanced up with a pleading look. "Please tell me the truth Undyne."

Sighing, Undyne shook her head. "I think Toriel's being ridiculous," She said. "Obviously you’re a special human! You are much more powerful and mature, I mean you could slaughter us all with your power!" Undyne laughed unaware of how true her statement was, while Frisk flinched. “Besides you and Sans are so in love, god, it’s so sickeningly sweet!”

"Then help me convince her!" Frisk begged. She grabbed Undyne's hand and stared up at her with a sad look. "Please! Today was amazing and I-I-" Frisk stuttered and shook her head. "I don't know how to put it in words, but it was so wonderful!" Undyne nodded and leaned down to hug Frisk, albeit a bit tightly.

"Of course Frisk!"

 


	6. Chapter 6

Toriel gave both Undyne and Frisk a disapproving glare as they sat on her couch defending the possibility of Frisk and Sans being together. After they finished speaking, she sighed. "I'm sorry," She said, which was the last thing Frisk expected to hear. "Perhaps I got a bit overprotective." Toriel came over and sat beside Frisk. "You are far wiser than most people or monsters even. Your situation is also very unique." Toriel smiled at her. "I only wish the best for you and if you think this will be it then fine." Frisk smiled back. "Though I must ask what happened to your hand," Toriel said with a small frown.

Before Frisk could say anything, the door slammed open and Papyrus rushed in. "TORIEL!" He said. "I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE COME TO CONVINCE YOU TO LET FRISK AND MY BROTHER'S NEWFOUND PASSION GROW!" He then fumbled with a notecard. "I HAVE PREPARED NOTES ON THE SUBJECT AND I THINK I CAN CONVINCE YOU TO GIVE THEM A CHANCE. MY FIRST POINT IS THAT THEY WOULD BE SO VERY HAPPY!" His smile widened. "AND THAT OF COURSE-"

Toriel laughed and shook her head. "You don't need to convince me Papyrus," She said, shaking her head. "I am already convinced."

Papyrus blinked in surprise and then breathed a sigh of relief. "OH THAT'S GOOD. I PREPARED THIS ALL VERY LAST MINUTE." He dropped the notecards and they scattered all around the room, making Frisk laugh.

Once Papyrus and Undyne left, Frisk told Toriel the partial truth behind her hand wound during their nightly hair brushing ritual. She lied and said she tripped and fell into the mirror while panicking, which Toriel believed. She told Frisk to be more careful and sent her off to bed. Frisk laid in bed staring at the ceiling for a while. She thought back on her kiss with Sans and a smile grew on her face. Sighing happily, Frisk rolled over and snuggled down into her pillow.

Soft light glittered on the golden floor and walls. Frisk glanced around, surprised that she stood in the Judgement Hall. She stared down at the blood and dust covered knife in her hand. Chara had no intention of letting Frisk sleep peacefully. When Frisk tried to call out, to move, she couldn't do anything. When Chara took over her dreams there was nothing she could do to fight against it. Her body strolled forward of its own accord. "heya. you've been busy, huh?" There was no friendliness in Sans’ voice. He leaned against the pillar glaring at her. Frisk tried to scream out. To tell him it wasn't her. There was no use.

The fight stretched on forever. After dodging hundreds of attacks even Chara felt strained. When Sans offered to spare her, Frisk fought as hard as she could to gain control and accept it. Chara fought away Frisk’s influence with ease and attacked Sans again and again until she managed to slash the knife across his chest. “No!” Frisk sobbed, unable to do anything.

Chara enjoyed reloading and fighting Sans again and again. She enjoyed killing Sans again and again. It seemed worth it to her even though sometimes she wasn’t fast enough and Sans killed her first. Each time just weighed Frisk's heart down even more. Sans knew when Chara had reloaded. His only comment was, "that expression you're wearing. you're really kind of a freak, huh?" Frisk knew she could never erase the flashes of red and blue from her mind and she just urged herself to either gain control or just to wake up.

Screaming, Frisk's eyes flew open. It was the middle of the night. Moonlight cast shadows all around her room. She sighed and sat up, moving as if she was in a daze. Sniffing, Frisk pulled her knees close to her chest and then began crying into her hands. After glancing around the room one final time, she sighed and laid back down. She wasn’t a little kid anymore. If her nightmares had started up again she couldn’t just run to each monster’s house when she dreamed about killing them. She rolled over, grabbing her cell phone. She hoped Sans wouldn’t mind receiving a call at two in the morning. She threw her blanket over her head as she listened to the dial tone.

When Sans heard the buzzing from his cell phone he woke up. Lifting his head, he glared over at the phone with tired eyes. After a few moments it stopped buzzing. Then almost immediately it started to buzz again. Sans snatched the phone up and glanced at the caller ID. It was Frisk. Staring at the phone, he felt a bit nervous. According to Papyrus Toriel had no problem with them dating though their first date had ended in disaster. “what do you want at two in the morning?” Sans asked as he answered the phone. “are you looking for a night in shining armor?”  He knew the pun was terrible, but Sans was half asleep so he wasn’t at the top of his game. Frisk’s giggles from the other side of the phone seemed to disagree. Sans yawned and rolled over on his back. “did you just call me to hear jokes all night kid?”

“I wanted to hear your voice,” Frisk said after a few moments. Her voice shook as she spoke.

“did you have a nightmare?” Sans asked, rubbing at his eyes. It had been years since Frisk had been plagued with nightmares.

Silence followed for a few moments before Frisk said, “Yes.”

“welp,” Sans said with a sigh. “did you know there was once a little kid who wondered every night where the sun went? one morning it dawned on him.”  He felt as though that one was far superior than his opening act.

Frisk’s laughter filled her empty room. She felt a wave of relief crash over her. That timeline in her nightmares was long gone. There was no need in worrying about it. “Have you ever heard about the backwards poet?” Frisk asked, leaning up against the wall. “He only writes inverse!” Both of them laughed. Frisk waited a few moments for a counter pun, but Sans had fallen silent. Frisk’s heart skipped a beat. “Sans?”

“sorry,” Sans said, yawning. “i’m pretty beat frisk.”

“Sorry for bothering you,” Frisk said, smiling a bit. “Thank you.”

“no problem kid.” Sans rolled over to lay on his back. “i’ll always be here for you.”

Overwhelmed with relief and happiness, Frisk beamed. Her smile spread across her face slowly. “Goodnight Sans.”

“mhm,” Sans said, yawning. “nite, frisk.” Then Sans added on an impulse, “love you.”

Frisk’s face lit up red. Before she could say anything in reply, she heard a quiet click. As she laid back down in her bed, she fell back asleep repeating the conversation in her head again and again until it drove away the dark memories of the Judgement Hall and Chara. “I love you too.”

When Frisk fell back into her dream she was back in the Judgement Hall. She strode forward, hearing her footsteps echo on the tiles. There was no knife in her hand. No blood or dust on her. It was the last time, the time from the current timeline. Frisk’s smile widened as she stepped into the corridor, face to face with Sans again. This time he smiled at her as he gave his speech about LOVE and EXP. He even looked a bit proud. Frisk listened patiently even though she had heard it before.

“you strived to do the right thing. you refused to hurt anyone. even when you ran away, you did it with a smile. you never gained LOVE, but you gained love.” Frisk beamed at this.

Chara snorted. “If only he knew.” Frisk glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. “You are a murderer.” The girl sulked by one of the pillars. Her narration had been limited and Frisk tried to block her out as much as possible. Most of the time, Frisk didn’t even hear or see Chara.

Frisk looked back to Sans and smiled. It didn’t matter. She had saved everyone. Even though Frisk could feel Chara struggling to gain control again, she had already progressed far enough to escape the demon girl’s influence. At the end Sans said, “so long as you do what’s in your heat…i believe you can do the right thing. alright. we're all counting on you, kid. good luck.” He ruffled her hair, chuckling under his breath.

“I won’t let you down,” Frisk said and walked forward to her happy ending. Then, she paused and turned back. “Everything will be okay from now on. I promise.” Tears threatened to spill over her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Okay Sans?” Chara glanced over at Frisk with an irritated look.

Sans grinned back at Frisk. “if you say so.”

This time Frisk woke up to the bright light coming in from the window. She glanced over to watch as Toriel opened the curtains. “You slept in my child,” Toriel said, looking towards Frisk with a happy smile. “Come on, it is time to get up.” Frisk nodded and yawned, stretching.

Toriel had made pancakes for breakfast as she did almost every morning. Frisk hummed to herself as she ate them. All of a sudden her left hand began to shake. Startled, Frisk dropped the butter knife. Toriel glanced up with a concerned look. “Sorry, I guess I have butter fingers,” Frisk said after sticking one of her fingers in the butter on the pancakes. Toriel laughed and continued to read the newspaper. Concerned, Frisk pushed the knife away and just used her fork to continue eating.

The experience in the hall of mirrors had some ill effects. Frisk often zoned in and out, struggling to banish strange thoughts from her mind. Every pencil, pen, and even eraser seemed to want to become a weapon. Frisk dropped each item the moment she began to lose control of her hand. She figured the next several weeks would be similar to the first time she saw Chara in the mirror. As long as she stayed in control it would go away. Chara would go dormant again. She was not as strong outside of the Underground, even though she owned Frisk’s SOUL.

The Sunday afternoon game of the day was soccer. Once again Undyne and Papyrus had gathered some children and were playing. Frisk was stuck with physics homework per usual. To Frisk’s surprise, Sans new reading material was a physics book instead of a joke book. She choose to not comment on it. Sans glanced over at her homework every now again.

“do you like that class?” Sans asked after a while. Frisk glanced up in surprise.

“Um, truthfully?” She shook her head. “Not really.” Sans nodded. “It seems like you would enjoy it though.”

“i’ve done far harder things then that simple class,” Sans said with a dismissive wave. Interested, Frisk leaned forward. Her eyes lit up in curiosity.

“Like what?” She asked. “Like things with that laboratory in your basement?” Sans’ expression darkened.

“mhm.” He glanced back down at his book. Frisk’s shoulder’s fell. She said just the right thing to make him throw the wall back up.

“Papyrus told me you really like science,” Frisk said, hoping to prompt some sort of conversation. Sans glanced back up at her. She continued, lowering her voice and leaning forward, “Did you used to be a scientist, Sans?” Based on information from other timelines, Frisk already knew the answer. She just wanted Sans to answer her directly. Instead, he glanced away.

“have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?” Sans said, changing the subject. He gestured to the book he was reading. “pretty interesting. i bet there’s even a universe where papyrus can beat undyne.”  

“I bet there’s a universe where you’re funny,” Frisk said, winking at him.

“heh, pretty good kiddo.” Sans shrugged. “but that’s a pretty universal insult.” Frisk rolled her eyes and giggled. “you seemed pretty amused at two in the morning.” Frisk smiled and continued to work on her homework. Sans watched her for a moment before continuing to read his book. Then he heard a quiet thud. When he glanced up Frisk was clutching at her right hand and the pencil had fallen onto the table.

“Stop it.” Her voice was so quiet that Sans wasn’t even sure he had heard her at first. She had a horrified expression on her face.

“frisk?”

Startled, Frisk let go of her hand and paled. It seemed as though she had not expected Sans to notice. He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m fine,” She said. “My hand just hurt a bit.” She snatched up her pencil and began to write again, albeit a bit shakily.

“The skeleton noticed,” Chara said in a bored tone. “About time.” Frisk ignored the voice and it didn’t say anything more. Throughout the day, Chara had begun to comment here and there along with trying to take control of Frisk’s hands. At the moment, it was minor. Frisk had dealt with her before like that.

“i could heal your hand,” Sans said. Frisk glanced up at him again. He looked concerned. “if it bothers you that much. i mean it’s a lot of effort but, you know, i’ll try to do it for you.”

Embarrassed, Frisk held out her hand. Sans took it in his and unwrapped the bandage. When Sans’ left eye lit up, Frisk had to suppress a shudder. No matter how many times Sans used his magic around her, Frisk would never forget the first time she saw it. It resulted in a painful unavoidable death. The blue magic from his hands shifted to green as he worked the healing magic. Frisk watched with wide eyes as her skin sewed itself back together. Most of the time, healing magic was never used. It could only heal minor wounds without putting a huge amount of stress on the user. Even then, it still didn’t heal wounds all the way. Healing magic couldn’t eliminate huge scars or restore function to damaged organs. A sharp pain shot up Frisk’s arm. She yelped and jerked her hand away unconsciously.

Sans’ eyes widened. “frisk i-” He began to speak, but broke off. The wound on Frisk’s hand had been healed. Only a small line across her hand indicated that she had been injured there. He breathed a sigh of relief. “welp, one less thing to worry about.” Frisk nodded, moving her fingers. She had a feeling the sharp pain had come from Chara’s magic, not Sans’, considering an eerie laughter filled Frisk’s mind just as the pain occurred.

“Thank you.” Sans felt the creeping blue magic blush spread to his face again as Frisk leaned across the table and kissed his cheek. She hummed to herself as she continued working on her homework.

Once her physics homework was done, she got dragged onto Papyrus’ team to play a second game of soccer since they lost the first one. Alphys slipped into Frisk’s seat across from Sans. He glanced at her with an annoyed look as she stared at the multiverse book. “I loved this book!” She said, smiling at him. “I’m glad you’re reading it.”

“mhm.” Sans shrugged. “i guess it’s okay.”

“Maybe you could come help with things in the lab?” Even though Alphys was no longer the Royal Scientist, she still tried to contribute to human and monster science. “It would be great to have you around!”

“nah.” Sans watched Papyrus and Frisk corner Undyne. Frisk slid the ball away from the surprised Undyne. She passed it to another human who kicked it into the goal.

“Come on Sans,” Alphys said, fidgeting with her glasses. “I mean it’s not too much work. And I promise I won’t play all of my anime soundtracks on repeat. You’re not just being lazy right?”

“i’m not lazy,” Sans said, glancing back at Alphys with a smirk. “i’m full of-”

“Potential energy,” Alphys said at the same time as Sans. “Jinx, you always used to say that joke.” Sans rolled his eyes and went back to reading the book, but he grinned. Alphys sighed and turned to watch the soccer game. It had been years since Sans had last set foot in a laboratory. Alphys knew nothing she said would ever be able to convince him to help out. Ever since they reached the Surface, she had tried her best to get her friend back in the lab, but all her attempts failed. Then again, she had also never seen him show interest in a physics book in a long time. “Why are you reading the book then?”

“it’s interesting,” Sans said with a shrug. He glanced back over at Alphys and sighed. “did you see my almost butchered attempt at healing frisk?” Setting the book aside, he stared down at his hands. “all i’m good for is destruction.” He clenched his hands.

“Well you did heal her!” Alphys said. “So that’s a good sign.”

“i hurt her.”

“Do you think that maybe-” Alphys was cut off by a loud cheer. Papyrus had              hoisted Frisk onto his shoulders and all the kids on his team were cheering. Undyne had a sour expression on her face, but seemed to be congratulating her opponents on their win.

“I KNEW WE COULD DO IT!” Papyrus said. “THREE CHEERS FOR US!” All the kids cheered again, clapping and racing around.

Frisk smiled and glanced over at Sans and Alphys. She waved with both hands and almost toppled off Papyrus’ shoulders. “We won!” She cheered. The other kids quickly joined in again.

Sans watched the scene with a small smile. Then, he glanced over at Alphys. “what time should i be there?”

Alphys’ face lit up in happiness. “Oh well I like to start at eight.”

“in the morning?” Sans’ face twisted in disgust. “why not noon?”

“The half the day is wasted,” Alphys said. Sans shrugged.

“fine.” He closed his book and stood up to walk over to the cheering soccer players.

“LET US ALL GO OUT TO CELEBRATE!” Papyrus said. “IT WILL LIKELY BE A WHILE BEFORE WE WIN AGAIN!” The kids all continued to cheer as they headed off, to get either pizza or ice cream or a combination of both. “WE COULD HAVE NEVER DONE IT WITHOUT YOUR HELP FRISK!” Papyrus said, glancing up at her. She smiled back down at him.

“It was a team effort.” A cold breeze ruffled her hair and she shivered. Glancing up, Frisk saw that dark clouds had begun to cover the sky. “Is it supposed to snow tonight?” As she asked, snowflakes began to drift down from the sky. Delighted, Frisk let some of them collect on her hand. The wind picked up. Soon the small flurry became a huge storm.

“PERHAPS IT IS TIME TO END THE CELEBRATION FOR TODAY,” Papyrus said. Frisk nodded, shivering and hugging herself.


	7. Chapter 7

A snow flurry and mist surrounded the crossing area between Snowdin and Waterfall. Chara held the dust and blood covered knife in her hand, examining it with keen interest before looking up. Papyrus stood in front of her with an uneasy smile. “I, PAPYRUS, SEE GREAT POTENTIAL WITHIN YOU! EVERYONE CAN BE A GREAT PERSON IF THEY TRY! AND ME, I HARDLY HAVE TO TRY AT ALL. NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!” Chara took several more steps forward.

“Spare him, please!” Frisk said, screaming inside her own mind. “Leave him alone!”

Chara ignored her and initiated the battle anyway. Papyrus immediately tried to spare her as usual.

“No! No! No!” Frisk screamed. “Not again! Not again!”

Chara killed Papyrus, slashing across his chest without much effort. A cruel smile spread across her face. Frisk shrieked in distress and Chara laughed at her.

"I BELIEVE IN YOU! YOU CAN DO A LITTLE BETTER! EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK SO,” Papyrus said as he died. “I…I PROMISE!” Chara shrugged and smirked a bit as the skeleton burst into dust. She wiped the knife off on her shirt, leaving a dusty white mark.

“Why?” Frisk asked. “He posed absolutely no threat to you! Papyrus was my friend!” “Want to play again?” Chara said then reloaded.

“Want to play again?” Chara said then reloaded.

Frisk woke with a start. Tears streamed down her face. After wiping her face off, Frisk rolled over and picked up her phone. She felt embarrassed as she called Papyrus, but she just needed to know it wasn’t real. She needed to know she hadn’t killed him. He didn’t pick up. Frisk felt her heart skip a beat and then she called again and again.

“IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” The voicemail answered once again. “LEAVE A MESSAGE AND I SHALL GET RIGHT BACK TO YOU!” With shaking hands, Frisk ended the call. She stared at her phone, feeling her heart beginning to pound. Papyrus always answered his phone. What if something had happened? What if it had been her fault? Her hands still shook as she dialed Sans’ number. Her call went straight to voicemail. Frisk leapt out of bed and pulled on her jacket and boots. She glanced outside to see the snowstorm was raging on. The streetlights were black, failing to cast any light out into the city.

With no regard for herself, Frisk headed out into the storm. There were a few trails of footprints leading to various different houses, but no one dared to venture too far into the storm. Every light in the city was out, leaving Frisk to navigate by moonlight. Frisk ran down the street, fighting against the wind. As she rounded the corner to head into the next neighborhood, she felt her feet skid on the ice. With a shriek, she fell into a huge snow drift. Shivering, she struggled to stand back up, slipping and sliding on the icy ground. Pulling herself out of the snow, Frisk brushed herself off as much as possible before continuing. Snow froze to her hair and clothes. Bitter wind nipped at her cheeks as she continued, determined to make it. Soon, she could see Papyrus and Sans’ house in the distance. Fumbling with her keys, she unlocked the door and shoved it open, slipping on the door step. Frisk caught her arm on the coffee table, knocking it over as she fell to the ground. Frustrated, Frisk sat up and kicked the door shut. She could barely feel her fingers.

“Papyrus?” Frisk called out with a weak voice. She coughed and pulled herself back up, stumbling as she walked forward. Her voice cracked as she called out again, “Papyrus!” One of the bedroom doors creaked open and a tired Papyrus came out of his room. He yawned and stretched, leaning over the balcony to speak to Frisk.

“FRISK? WHY ARE YOU-” He broke off. “YOU ARE SOAKING! YOU COULD NOT HAVE BEEN OUT IN THAT STORM, RIGHT? YOU NEED TO GET IN WARMER CLOTHES!” Frisk smiled, relieved that Papyrus was okay. As she walked forward, she began to feel a bit dizzy. Every muscle ached from fighting against the storm. It must have taken a while to get to Papyrus’ house. Frisk’s legs felt shaky and her knees buckled under her. “FRISK!”

Sans woke up with a start when he heard Papyrus yell. He jumped out of bed and raced downstairs. The coffee table had been knocked over and Papyrus was kneeling on the ground, clutching Frisk in his arms. Snow covered Frisk from head to toe. Strands of her hair seemed to even be frozen. Her face was a sickly red and her breathing hitched. “frisk! papyrus, what happened?” His brother glanced up with tears in his eyes.

“I DO NOT KNOW,” Papyrus said as Sans rushed over to them. “I JUST CAME DOWNSTAIRS AND-AND-OH SHE MUST HAVE WALKED ALL THE WAY HERE IN THE SNOWSTORM!” Sans brushed as much snow as he could out of Frisk’s hair.

“hey kid.” Careful not to jostle her too much, Sans shook her by the shoulders. “wake up for me? will ya?” Frisk’s eyes fluttered open and she glanced up at Papyrus and Sans.

“Papyrus is okay.” Her voice shook as she spoke, “I was so worried.”

“OF COURSE I AM OKAY!” Papyrus said with a worried expression. “YOU SHOULD BE MUCH MORE WORRIED ABOUT YOURSELF!”

“He’s okay Sans,” Frisk said again. “I was scared. I was so scared.” Her whole body trembled. “She wanted to hurt him.” Sans and Papyrus exchanged a confused look.

“who?” Sans asked, but Frisk just shook her head, coughing. Sans sighed and helped Frisk get to her feet. “you need to get outta those clothes.” Frisk stumbled, only managing to take a few steps, and fell against him. He lifted her into his arms with ease. “we need to call tori.” Papyrus nodded, rushing upstairs to grab his phone. Sans quickly headed upstairs as well, setting Frisk down on his bed.

“I’m sorry,” She said, coughing again. Her hands shook as she struggled with her coat’s zipper. “I shouldn’t have come rushing over like in this storm.” Sans helped her with the zipper and assisted her in pulling her coat off.

“don’t sweat it,” Sans said. “i’m just glad you didn’t turn into a friscicle.” Frisk giggled.

“I HAVE BROUGHT SOME SUITABLE CLOTHING!” Papyrus rushed into the room. He carried five towels and a small pair of Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie pajamas that must have been from several years earlier. Sans picked up one of the towels and dried Frisk’s hair, knocking all of the snow away.

Once Frisk looked a bit warmer, Sans turned to leave. “hurry up and change kiddo.” Sans grabbed his brother and pulled him out of the room. Once the door was shut, Sans glanced up and him and asked, “there’s no one out to get you, right?”

“NOT THAT I KNOW OF.” Papyrus shrugged. “WHO COULD BE THE PERSON FRISK WAS REFERRING TO?” Sans just shook his head. In every timeline, every other universe, the only person who ever hurt Papyrus was Frisk. He sighed and shook the thought from his head.

Once Frisk had dried herself off for the most part, she put on the pajamas and stumbled into the hallway. As soon as she crossed the threshold, Papyrus wrapped her up in a blanket. “YOU HAVE TO STAY WARM!” He gave her a tight hug. “I MUST ASK YOU TO NEVER DO ANYTHING RECKLESS LIKE THAT AGAIN!”

“Why weren’t you picking up your phone?” Frisk asked, glancing up at him with sad eyes.

“IT IS NOT CHARGED. THE STORM KNOCKED THE POWER OUT,” Papyrus said.

“yeah, we’ll have to call tori once we get power again,” Sans said.

Frisk nodding and sniffed. “I thought-” She broke off. Tear welled up at the corners of her eyes.

Papyrus’ own eyes teared up as well. “I AM SO SORRY FRISK, I PROMISE TO KEEP IT BETTER CHARGED IN THE FUTURE!” He swept Frisk into another hug, scooping her up into his arms. “I’M SORRY!” Both of them burst into tears. Sans patted Papyrus on the back.

As Sans and Papyrus rushed around the house trying to get anything Frisk needed, she sat snuggled into the couch with several blankets. Sans threw all of her clothes into the dryer, while Papyrus boiled some water to make hot chocolate. Curled up on the couch, Frisk dozed in and out of consciousness. The noise soothed her. It confirmed that her friends were alive and well. The kindness of their actions drove away any possible trace of Chara for the time being. Frisk accepted the hot chocolate from Papyrus once it was done. She sipped it slowly, smiling as the warmth spread through her.

“IF YOU ARE ALRIGHT I MAY HEAD BACK TO BED,” Papyrus said, suppressing a yawn. Sans nodded. He wanted alone time with Frisk anyway. “GOODNIGHT FRISK. DO NOT GO RUSHING OUT INTO ANY MORE STORMS. I WOULD HAVE TO COME SAVE YOU!” He ruffled Frisk’s hair and she smiled back at him.

“Goodnight,” Frisk said sweetly. “Thank you.” Once Papyrus walked upstairs, Frisk glanced back over at Sans. He gestured for her to scooch over on the couch. She did and then offered the other half of blanket to him. He slid in beside her.

“you scared me,” He said. “you looked close to death.” Frisk did not reply, but just curled closer to Sans, laying her head against his shoulder. Sans wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “these nightmares must be something.” Frisk nodded once. She did not want to talk about it. “who were you talking about?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Frisk said under her breath. While Sans had some knowledge about possible timelines, Frisk was sure that he didn’t have memory of all of them. There was no way he would even go near her if he remembered all the times Chara violently killed him and all of their friends using Frisk’s hands. “It’s just a nightmare.”

Sans sighed. He wished he could just tell Frisk about his own nightmares. Then again, he did not want to worry her with all the other timelines. For whatever reason, Frisk seemed different than Flowey. Either she didn’t remember the other timelines or she choose not to speak of them. “if you say so,” He said. “guess we all have our dark secrets that we can’t tell anyone.” He eyed Frisk, who looked contemplative.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Frisk said, blinking away her tears. “You-you don’t want to hear about my nightmares.” An eerie feeling came over Sans. Perhaps there was something more to the other timelines then he realized. Perhaps Frisk did remember them. Frisk grasped his shirt a bit tighter and then glanced up at him. She looked so fragile in that moment.

“frisk,” He said, trying to think of some dumb joke to break the tension. Moving slowly, Frisk shifted so that Sans and her were face to face. They both fell silent for a few moments. This time Sans kissed her first. They both felt the same spark similar to their first kiss. When Sans finally pulled away Frisk stared back with a star struck look. A smile spread across her cheeks and she looked the happiest Sans had ever seen her. She snuggled up against him again, closing her eyes.

“These temperatures put me in the mood for sub-zero sandwiches,” Frisk said in between giggles. Sans smirked.

“winter is snow joke,” Sans said, tickling Frisk.

“No!” Frisk yelled, laughing. “That’s not fair!” She laughed, struggling to gain the upper hand again. “Tickling is cheating!”

“nah.”

Frisk fell asleep. All the events of the night had exhausted her. Sans closed his eyes as well. They both slept well that night, with no nightmares to worry them. Early in the morning, Papyrus snuck down the stairs into the kitchen. Seconds after succeeding in sneaking past Frisk and Sans, he knocked down a pan which crashed to the ground and startled them awake.

Papyrus peeked out of the kitchen, grinning at them. “I MUST APOLOGIZE!” He said. “I DID NOT MEAN TO WAKE YOU. I WANTED TO PREPARE BREAKFAST BEFORE YOU WOKE UP!” Frisk stretched, kicking off the blanket, which Sans pulled over his head.

“We should all make breakfast together!” Frisk suggested as she leapt to her feet. She glanced back at the blanket covered lump on the couch. “Come on Sans.”

“YES BROTHER!” Papyrus snatched the blanket away. “THIS IS GOOD GROUP BONDING EXPERIENCE!” Sans yawned and shot his brother a glare. “AND IT WILL HELP ENCOURAGE THE BLOOMING OF YOUR NEW FOUND LOVE.” Frisk’s face begin to turn red as Sans’ turned blue. “COME ALONG!” Papyrus dragged Sans by the arm into the kitchen.

“we should call tori.” Sans grabbed the house phone, listening to see if it was back on. The power was back on, so Sans called her to let her know that Frisk was with them.

Outside the snow had stopped falling. Frisk stared out the window and saw that at least two or three feet had fallen over the course of the night. She stared out, admiring the snow as it glittered in the sunlight. Some things managed to be both beautiful and dangerous. “FRISK, WE NEED TO ACQUIRE THE FLOUR FOR THE PANCAKES!” Frisk nodded and clambered up onto the counter. She reached up for the flour, which had been stored on the top shelf. Struggling to grasp it, she grabbed a corner of it and it tumbled down into her arms. A puff of flour erupted from the bag, dusting her face. Blinking, Frisk coughed and hopped back down.

“Here you are.” Frisk set the bag on the other counter, beside the mixing bowl. She rubbed her face, trying to get the flour off. Sans glanced over at her, setting down the mixing bowl with eggs. He felt a cold chill.

The smudged flour on Frisk’s face brought back a very different image of her. The Frisk that stood in the Judgement Hall covered in dust and blood. The Frisk that he had murdered time and time again until she finally managed to kill him first. Sans shook the image from his head and snatched up a towel. Frisk protested and tried to squirm away as he vigorously wiped the flour off of her cheeks.

Soon the whole kitchen had become covered in pancake batter. “I SHALL FLIP THE FIRST ONE! IT WILL BE PERFECT. NYEH HEH HEH!” Frisk watched with a grin as Papyrus tried to flip the pancake over. He jerked the pan up too hard and the pancake went flying, spinning around several times before landing on Frisk’s head. Uncooked batter dripped down onto her forehead. “OH, I SUPPOSE THIS PAN MUST NOT BE VERY GOOD AT PANCAKE FLIPPING.”

“i don’t think it’s the pan’s fault.” Sans picked the pancake up off of Frisk’s head and tossed it into the trash. Frisk’s smile didn’t waver and she even laughed.

“Let me try Papyrus.” Frisk reached for the other pan. She attempted to flip it and it went over her shoulder and smacked into the back wall. All three of them laughed. Several more unsuccessful attempts to flip pancakes had ended with one stuck to the ceiling and one thrown all the way into the other room before they managed to flip one successfully. Once the pancakes had been completed, the three friends smothered them in butter, syrup, and even sprinkles. As they ate their breakfast the door slammed open. A very cold looking Toriel rushed over to hug Frisk.

“I was so worried about you my child!” She exclaimed. “Please do not scare me like that again.”

“I’m sorry.” Frisk lowered her gaze and stared at the floor.  

“It’s fine,” Toriel said. “We will just have to do something to get rid of your nightmares, right?” Frisk nodded once, staring down at her feet. Toriel paused and stared at Frisk’s hair. “Is that pancake batter?” Frisk nodded again, giggling. “Oh, I see you have been busy.” She glanced around Frisk into the destroyed kitchen.

“WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY AND SURELY THAT WILL HELP!” Papyrus said as he leapt to his feet. “WE STARTED OUT BY COOKING PANCAKES AND NOW WE SHALL GO ICE SKATING AND HAVE SNOWBALL FIGHTS AND BUILD IGLOOS!”

“i haven’t even finished eating yet bro,” Sans said, sighing. Papyrus ignored him and rushed to the closet, pulling out a sled, three pairs of ice shakes, and several small plastic shovels. Frisk ran over to get her clothes from the dryer and a spare jacket from the closet, while Toriel eyed the pancakes on the table. “what?”

“Those are…interesting,” Toriel said, searching for a kind way to say, “The most atrocious pancakes I have ever seen.”

“want some?”

Toriel paled and shook her head. “No thank you.”

“that hurts,” Sans said, cutting off another piece and shoving it into his mouth. “they weren’t a piece of cake to make.” Toriel laughed, while Papyrus glared over his shoulder at his brother.

“IT IS TOO EARLY FOR PUNS!”

“Hey Papyrus,” Frisk said with a huge smile as she pulled on her jacket. “Have you ever heard about the angry pancake?” Papyrus shook his head. “They say the guy really flipped out!”

“YOU ARE A BAD INFLUENCE!” Papyrus yelled at Sans.

“But you’re smiling,” Frisk said.

“I AM AND I HATE IT!”


	8. Chapter 8

Since the whole town shut down due to the blizzard, everyone had rushed outside to play in the new snow. Alphys had decided that lab work could wait for later and Undyne invited everyone to the largest hill in town to have sled races. Papyrus trudged through the snow while dragging the sled filled with shovels and ice skates. Frisk sat up on his shoulders, grateful that she did not have to walk through the snow again. Toriel and Sans walked much further behind them. Frisk and Papyrus chatted happily as Sans and Toriel had a quiet, morose conversation.

“I assume she has not told you anything either?” Toriel said after Papyrus and Frisk were far enough away that they would not be able to hear the conversation.

“tried to ask her last night,” Sans said, glancing up at Toriel. “she wouldn’t tell me squat.”

“She has always refused to reveal anything to me as well,” Toriel said with a sigh. “As far as I can tell, she has not told anyone anything.” She shook her head and watched Frisk with a sad smile. “I had hoped these nightmares were gone for good.”

“i guess this is my fault,” Sans said with a darkened expression. “cause of the mirrors?”

“It does seem to be where her fear stems from.” Toriel patted Sans’ arm and gave him a comforting smile. “But you did not know, so you can hardly blame yourself. After all, I caused the initial wave of nightmares.” She shook her head and crossed her arms. “I just wish I could find out why she will not confide in anyone.”

“she said it would hurt us,” Sans said. “who knows why she thinks that.” Toriel frowned and stared ahead, watching Frisk laugh at something Papyrus said.

“Could she be dreaming that we have died?” Toriel asked. “It seems reasonable.”

“that’s what i figured,” Sans said. “hence the midnight phone calls and meetings to make sure we haven’t exploded into dust.”

“I just wish I could convince her to confide in me!” Toriel said with an exasperated sigh. “What must I do to earn her trust?”

“no idea tori.” After a few moments of silence, Sans glanced up at Toriel. Frowning, she held her hands together in front of her and stared ahead at Frisk. A sad and worried expression covered her face. “knock. knock.”

With a small smile, Toriel glanced down at him. “Who is there?”

“iva.”

“Iva who?”

“iva sore hand from knocking.”

Both of them burst into laughter. Wiping tears from her eyes, Toriel laid a hand on Sans’ shoulder. “Thank you Sans.” 

Once they reached the hill, Undyne waved to them and leapt up and down. Alphys, who had bundled herself in coats and scarves, waved as well. “Come to lose in a snow race Frisk?” Undyne asked, laughing. “This will make up for that soccer match!”

“I think we’ll win again, right Papyrus?” Frisk said with a huge smile.

“OF COURSE!” Papyrus said. “FRISK AND I ARE ON A WINNING STREAK!” He helped her down off his shoulders and gave her a high five. “LET US RACE AND SEE WHO IS SUPERIOR! IT IS CLEARLY US! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!”

Toriel stood by the bottom of the hill as the official referee. Undyne and Alphys prepared themselves in one sled with Papyrus and Frisk in the other one. On Toriel’s count the sleds shot down the hill. Alphys shrieked in fear and clung to Undyne all the way down, while the others laughed. After several races, most of which ended in ties, the group started a huge snowball fight with all of the neighborhood monster and human children.

Giggling, Frisk raced over to hide behind a tree as snowballs from Undyne’s side of the field missed by inches. She bumped into Sans. “hey, this is my hiding spot.”

“We can’t share a hiding spot?” Frisk asked. Sans smirked at her.

“not when i’m staying here for the whole game,” He said. “snowball fights are too much effort.”

“Come on Sans,” Frisk said, smiling. “It’s lots of fun.” Sans shook his head. “Fine, hide here.” She pulled her hood up and then pulled Sans hood over his head before she kicked the tree. A huge pile of snow fell down on top of them. Frisk shook her head and brushed off her hair before smiling at Sans.  “Now no one will see you’re here.”

“you really want to be a frisicle, huh?” Sans scooped up a pile of snow and shoved it down Frisk’s jacket. She shrieked in surprise.

“Cold! Cold! Cold!” She exclaimed, dancing around to shake the snow out from her jacket. She rolled up a snowball and chucked it at Sans, who dodged it with ease. Snatching up another handful of snow, Frisk threw another one that Sans dodged out of the way again.

“you’ll have to try harder than that.” Sans smirked as he dodged another snowball. Annoyed, Frisk just tackled him instead, shoving him into a snowdrift. They wrestled around in the snow for a while, laughing the whole time.

 Once Frisk managed to pin Sans down, she slammed a snowball into his face. “Got you!”

“yeah you have.” He smiled up at her. Frisk blushed and leaned forward to kiss him when she got pelted with snowballs and knocked to the ground.

“Less kissing and more snowball fighting!” Undyne yelled. “Your team is-” She was interrupted by a flurry of snowballs knocking her back into the snow. Alphys, who was right by Undyne, barely managed to dodge the snowballs. Laughing, she offered a hand to Undyne to help her up.

“SANS!” Papyrus scolded his brother. “USING MAGIC IS CHEATING!”

Sans just shrugged and offered a hand to help Frisk back up. She took it and he pulled her back to his feet. “what magic?” Sans said, flicking his hand to send snowballs at Papyrus.

“WE ARE ON THE SAME TEAM BROTHER!” Papyrus said and leapt out of the way of the snowballs. “YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO ATTACK THE OTHER TEAM!”

As Frisk and Sans laughed, Undyne snuck up behind them. “That’s it!” She yelled. “Snow-wrestling!” She tackled both of them, sending the three of them tumbling into a snow drift. Frisk shrieked in delight, while Sans struggled and tried to shove her off.

After they had all played until they had exhausted themselves, most of the others retired back to their own homes to eat lunch. Toriel had prepared a through spread of sandwiches for the others. They had decided to go ice skating after lunch, much to Frisk’s disappointment.

“You know I can’t ice skate very well,” She said as they sat by the lake, fastening the skates to their feet.

“PERHAPS THIS WILL THE YEAR I WILL SUCCEED IN TEACHING YOU.” Papyrus struggled to stand at first, but then gained his balance. “COME ALONG FRISK!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her along. She stuck her other arm straight out to help maintain her balance. “I AM AN EXCELLENT ICE SKATER, SOON YOU WILL BE AS GREAT AS ME! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus let go of Frisk’s hand and pushed her across the ice towards Sans.

“Wait a second!” Frisk yelled, waving her arms all around her to maintain balance. Sans caught her hand right before she fell down.

“ice to see you here.” Sans skated with Frisk back the other way. “let’s not break the ice here. ” With a wink, he gave her a gentle push back towards Papyrus.

“ENOUGH OF YOUR ICE PUNS FOR ONE DAY BROTHER!” Papyrus called over to Sans as he caught Frisk’s hand. “THEY HAVE GROWN TOO COLD FOR MY LIKING! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!” Sans snickered.

“I feel like a yo-yo,” Frisk said as she was shoved back across the ice. Then again, she felt able to balance a bit better as she got some practice on her own.

“SOON YOU SHALL HELP US BEAT UNDYNE AT ICE HOCKEY,” Papyrus said as him and Frisk skated around the lake. He let go of her hand and she skated a bit on her own, before running into Sans. He curled both arms around her waist, staring up at her with a huge smile. She hugged him back tightly.

“Maybe,” She said. “I’m really getting the hang of this!”

“you say that every year,” Sans said as they slid along, spinning. “then you fall down.”

“That’s not true,” Frisk said. “Besides even if I do, you’ll catch me right?”

“yeah.” Frisk leaned down and kissed him. He stared back, grinning. Frisk smiled back and pulled away to gather up speed and skate away on her own. “don’t get too overzealous,” Sans said as Frisk turned a sharp corner and went skating by quite quickly the other way. As she approached Papyrus again, she lost her balance. She shrieked and scrambled to keep her balance.

“DO NOT WORRY FRISK!” Both Papyrus and Sans skated over to try to grab her hand. She slipped backwards, sending her feet flying up in the air. Hitting the ice hard send shockwaves of pain up her back.

“Ow,” She said, sitting back up. In her flailing, she had also managed to knock Papyrus down. When she looked over him to apologize all she could see was the long gash in his chest. “NO!” She screamed, trying to scramble over to him. She slipped and fell on the ice again. “What did I do?!”

“The armor is cracked. You did that.”

When Sans saw Frisk’s ice skate scrape against his brother’s armor, he recalled the image of the bloodied chest piece and scarf from another timeline. Shaking, he skated faster to get over to Papyrus and Frisk. Once Frisk sat up, she screamed and began to sob. “FRISK, DO NOT WORRY! MY ARMOR CAN BE REPAIRED!” Papyrus said as he sat up, but Frisk continued to sob into her hands as if she couldn’t hear him. Her whole body shook.

The images of Chara killing Papyrus again and again flashed through Frisk’s head. The burst of blood and the sad look in his eyes as she betrayed him. She had killed him. No matter how much she tried, Frisk couldn’t stop herself from hurting her friend. Chara just continued to kill him again and again. Even now, she had done it once more. “I’ve killed Papyrus,” She whispered.

“Good job partner, I knew this is what you really wanted.”

“NO, I DO NOT THINK SO!” Papyrus said, sending his brother a worried look. Sans knelt down next to Frisk and gently grabbed her shoulder. “FRISK, I SWEAR I AM ALRIGHT. YOU JUST SCRATCHED THE ARMOR. PLEASE DO NOT CRY!” Tears had begun to form in Papyrus’ eyes as well. “I HATE IT WHEN YOU CRY!”

“hey, frisk listen to me,” Sans said, grabbing her shoulder. “papyrus is fine. you didn’t hurt him.”

“What’s wrong with Frisk?” Undyne asked as both her and Alphys also joined the group.

“SHE THINKS SHE KILLED ME,” Papyrus said with a confused look.

“What? That’s preposterous!” Undyne exclaimed. “Frisk couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“it’s okay.” Sans pulled Frisk into a tight hug. “we’re all right here frisk. we’re fine. all of us are fine.” As Sans held her close and rubbed her back, Frisk’s sobs slowed to a stop and she raised her head. She glanced over to see Papyrus staring at her with a worried look.

“How much longer Frisk?” Chara giggled. “They’ll all be dead around you soon.” Frisk continued to shake as she wiped away her tears. “It’s only a matter of time! I’ll finish it for you partner!”

“I want to go home,” Frisk whispered, burying her face in Sans’ jacket. “I want to go home!” Confused, her friends all glanced at each other. Sans nodded and kissed her forehead.

“let’s go kid.” Sans helped her up and they skated back over to the beach. Frisk wrestled with her ice skates, yanking at them until they came off. She threw them aside, disgusted with herself.

Toriel came rushing over. “Frisk, what happened?” She asked, but Frisk ignored her and started to trudge off into the snow. “Frisk?” Both Toriel and Sans watched her go with concerned looks.

When Frisk got home, she began to pack up her suitcase. She crammed as many clothes as she could into it. Then she tucked a photo of all her friends and her into the front pocket. She fished around under her bed and pulled out the golden locket she had found in Asgore’s house. It would help provide some magical defense if she ran into something dangerous.

“What are you doing?” Chara asked with an annoyed tone.

“Leaving,” Frisk said aloud. “I can’t hurt them if I run away! If I stay as far away as possible they’ll get their happy ending!” Frisk slammed the suitcase shut. “I’m the one that can take away their happiness. I’m the one who ruined it all! Without me around, they’ll be safe!” When someone knocked on her door, Frisk shoved the suitcase under her bed.

“My child, will you please speak with me?” Toriel asked as she opened the door. “Why are you so upset? Is it because you almost hurt Papyrus?” Frisk did not reply, but just looked away. “Oh Frisk, mistakes happen. Do not berate yourself over something so minor.” Frisk shook her head. Toriel sighed and wrapped her in a tight hug. “Everyone is worried about you. I told them that you seem a bit overwhelmed and probably would like to be left alone.”

“Thank you,” Frisk said. Toriel kissed the side of her head and then left the room.

At midnight, Frisk snuck out of the house with her suitcase. She had to be quiet since Toriel was cooking. She always cooked when she was worried. Frisk slipped out of the door, feeling a heavy pain in her heart. Due to the snow the buses weren’t running. However, there was a train station on the other side of town. Frisk figured she could walk for an hour to reach the station and then get as far away as possible. She sighed and headed off into the night. At least there wasn’t a sub-zero snowstorm that night and most of the sidewalks had been shoveled. She hoped she could make it to the train station before Toriel noticed she had left.

For hours Sans laid in bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep. Every piece of evidence pointed to the fact that Frisk had experienced the other timelines. Everything indicated that Frisk had slaughtered everyone she loved and then reset and did it over and over until she got tired of killing. He shuddered and rolled over, staring at the clock. Frisk seemed so terrified of hurting her friends. Why in the world would she ever choose to kill them?

“she wouldn’t.” Sans knew he must have been missing something. His nightmares and visions of the other timelines revealed fairly little about them besides the fact that the murderous Frisk failed to show any hint of remorse. She didn’t even speak. Sans rubbed his face in frustration. He needed to know for sure. It seemed clear that Frisk did not want to frighten the monsters by telling them what she had done in the past, but if Sans told her that he already knew that perhaps she would be more willing to fill in the blanks? Perhaps it hadn’t been Frisk at all. The thing that came out of the Ruins was more demon than human.

Suddenly, Sans’ phone began to ring. He glanced over at it and picked it up. Toriel was calling. What did she want at one in the morning? “hello?”

“Please tell me Frisk is with you! I was worried and so I was up late baking. I went to deliver a piece of pie to her and she wasn’t there!” Toriel said, sounding frantic. “I have already called everyone else and her suitcase is gone!”

“what?” Sans sat up and leapt out of bed. “she ran away?”

“She’s not with you?” Toriel said. “Oh no, what did I do to make her want to leave? I thought she liked her life here!” She wailed in sorrow. “What if something happens to her?”

“i’ll go look for her.” Sans struggled to put on his jacket while still holding the phone. “i’ll talk some sense into her. don’t worry tori.”

Frisk reached the train station within an hour. She bought a ticket to a faraway town and sat down on the bench to wait. She had thirty more minutes and then she would be as far away as possible. She would never hurt her friends again. Her phone began to ring. Nervous, Frisk glanced at the phone. Toriel was calling her. She ignored it with a heavy heart. The phone continued to buzz. Undyne called her. Alphys called her. Papyrus called her. Even Asgore called her. Then, Sans called her. They all kept calling and she turned her phone off to rid herself of the buzzing. She pulled her hood over her head and slouched up against the bench. Thirty minutes remained until she could board a train and leave Ebott forever. Everyone would be safe.

“where could she be?” Sans asked himself as he teleported from place to place in town. He checked the hill, the entrance to the Underground, the playground, the lake, and then he realized if Frisk was running away she wouldn’t just hide somewhere. She wasn’t stupid.

“Ten more minutes,” Frisk said to herself, eyeing the clock. Clearly her friends had noticed her absence. It wouldn’t be long until they found her. She swung her legs back and forth, staring at the train tracks.

“what the hell kiddo?”

Frisk jumped and whirled around to see Sans standing behind her. He looked pissed. Embarrassed, Frisk turned back around and ignored him. “I’m leaving, please understand that I have to.”

“what are you talking about?” Sans walked around to sit by Frisk. She scooted away from him and pretended she didn’t see the hurt look on his face.

“I need to get away from all of you,” Frisk said. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Then tell me!” Sans hardly ever yelled. Frisk jumped and stared over at him in surprise. “tell me,” He said more softly, reaching out to take her hand. Frisk pulled away.

“No,” Frisk said, shaking her head. Tears began to form in her eyes. “I can’t! You’ll hate me!”

“frisk please just-”

“We all have our secrets don’t we?” Frisk clenched her hands. “Like how you used to work for the previous Royal Scientist!” Sans’ eyes widened in surprise. “Why didn’t you ever tell me? I eventually figured it out! The photo album in the lab in your basement. There were pictures of you, Alphys, and another skeleton. I recognized Gaster from a picture Asgore had in New Home.” Sans glanced away with an ashamed look. “Why not tell me? Did you just not trust me?”

“You killed us all,” Sans said without emotion. His pupils had disappeared. Frisk’s eyes widened in surprise. “Countless times. You slaughtered us.” Horrified, Frisk began to shake. Sans glanced away, pupils returning. “i don’t know all the specifics about your power, but i do know about the other timelines. i can remember them.”      

“You’ve known this whole time?” Frisk whispered. She should have known. Sans knew when she reloaded, so it was natural that he knew about the resets as well. “How could you even stand to look at me?” Tears began to stream down her face. “I-I-I betrayed all of you! I wasn’t strong enough!” She wiped at her tears, struggling to dry her face. Her tears continued to stream down her face. “I murdered you!”

“please come back home.” A friendly look returned to Sans’ face. Placing his hands on Frisk’s cheeks, he brushed her tears aside with his thumbs. “we need to talk.”

“How can you touch me?” Frisk whispered with a horrified expression. “How can you bear to be near me?”

“kiddo, i’m not a complete bonehead,” Sans said, lowering his voice. “i know there’s something more to the story. what happened back then, the thing that came out of the ruins and slaughtered us all…i know it wasn’t you. not really.” Frisk shook her head as Sans continued, “c’mon frisk, let’s go home. we can talk about this later.”

As she sobbed, Sans pulled her to him, hugging her close. “But it was my fault.” Frisk whimpered and shook her head. “It was me.”

“was it?” Sans rubbed her back and stroked her hair as she cried.

After a long time, Frisk raised her head back up and Sans kissed her. As he pulled away, she whispered. “How could you hold me? How could you kiss me?” Sans did not reply, but just grasped her hand and stood up, pulling her along. After a moment’s hesitation, Frisk grabbed ahold of her suitcase and walked with Sans. An instant after they rounded the corner, they were back at her house. Sans pushed the door and walked in with Frisk at his side. Everyone had gathered in the house.

“Frisk!” They all yelled at once, rushing to surround her.

“Why would you run away, my child?” Toriel asked as she cried.

“I MUST HAVE BEEN A TERRIBLE FRIEND TO MAKE YOU WANT TO LEAVE!” Papyrus hugged Frisk tightly.

“Did I make you watch too much anime with me?” Alphys looked horrified. “You never have to watch another one I promise!”

“Could I have been too harsh to you?” Undyne joined Papyrus in squeezing Frisk into a tight hug. “I promise that when I win I will not rub it in as much!”

“You had as all very worried,” Asgore said. He knelt down and ruffled Frisk’s hair. “You know that you can come to us about anything.”

Overwhelmed with how much her friends cared about her, Frisk began to cry again. She clung to them and repeated over and over again how sorry she was. They all forgave her as long as she promised to never run away again. “I promise!” Frisk said and received many happy hugs.

 


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Frisk and Sans went on a trip to the underground. Sans wanted to tell Frisk everything and he hoped that she would be open in return. Without speaking, they walked hand in hand through Hotland and Waterfall before reaching Snowdin. “It’s so lonely here,” Frisk said, glancing around. Sans nodded.

Stepping back into the old lab sent shivers down San’s spine. He flipped on the lights and walked over to the machine with the tarp over it. He let go of Frisk’s hand to pull the tarp off of it. “this was gaster’s last creation.” The machine had a chamber with a chair inside. There were several monitors and a variety of different keyboards and switches. “he was doing the same thing as alphys, experimenting with determination.” Sans stared at the machine with a sorrowful look. “six humans fell down between the first human and you. for a while no more seemed to be coming, so asgore let gaster look at their souls to study them. gaster built a determination detector using them. at the time i had just started working at hotland as a sentry. i met gaster and alphys as they were headed to the garbage dump.” Sans looked embarrassed as he glanced over at Frisk. “i asked to go with them. i mean, i always wanted to be a scientist like them, but i didn’t want to leave papyrus on his own. i know it probably sounds dumb, but i figured papyrus would be happier if i stayed with him and helped him with his dreams.”

“You can be really selfless,” Frisk said with a smile.

Sans just shrugged and continued his story, “i secretly began helping with stuff around the lab. we’d been analyzing all this human stuff at the garbage dump for a while and gaster wanted to try to get a robot up past the barrier. we never successfully got one much further than the barrier, but gaster kept going back to the dump anyway.” Sans shrugged. “who knows why? we ended up building a bigger detector here. it was perfect cause snowdin’s pretty much in the middle of the underground.” Sans gestured to the now empty countertop. “a lot of our work got us nowhere. we even tried to make a synthetic SOUL, but it couldn’t be done.” Frisk nodded. She had read something in the True Lab that mentioned how synthetic SOULs could not be created. “then one day, gaster was all freaked out. the DT detector was going nuts. it had been detecting this sudden peak of determination from beyond the barrier. gaster rushed off back to the other lab without us. the next few weeks were weird.” With an frustrated sigh, Sans shook his head. “gaster hid a lot from us. we took samples of determination and built this machine.” Sans gestured to the broken machine. “gaster wanted to make monsters stronger. he said gaster thought asgore wouldn’t approve of experimentation on other monsters, so we kept it secret.”

“By fusing them with determination?” Frisk asked.

Pacing over to the other section of the lab, Sans pulled out the photo album Frisk had found. “gaster had begun to worry that once we did get past the barrier then monsters would not be powerful enough if humans decided to attack us.” Sans shrugged. “but the extractions gaster did get were not pure enough. you saw the extraction machine alphys built using gaster’s blueprints. it worked much better than the mini version stored in this machine.” Glancing around the laboratory, Sans shook his head.

“So this lab originally analyzed determination?” Frisk asked, walking over to look at the broken machine.

“especially the anomaly gaster found,” Sans said. “we kept having to work on the machine to get better readings. he was never satisfied.”

“Anomaly?” Frisk asked.

“you,” Sans said. “the DT detector machine began to detect your presence years before you showed up. that thing continued to beep and screech after gaster’s death. i just turned it off and dismantled it, returning the pieces to alphys. there was no point in keeping it here.”

“How did Gaster die?” Frisk asked. Sans sighed and stared back over at the broken machine.

“he wanted to try it on himself,” Sans said. “i insisted i would do it instead.” Sans shrugged. “so we turned it on and everything went well for a few minutes. then everything went nuts. the extracted determination became unstable. lights were flashing all over. it felt like i was experiencing every possible reality all at once. i don’t remember much.” Scowling at the machine, Sans remained silent for a moment. He glanced over at Frisk, considering what to say. “when i woke up gaster was gone. alphys said the machine had torn him apart and scattered him across the time and space.” Sans flexed his hand. “my magic changed…it became stronger. i started being able to see brief glimpses into other timelines, usually during nightmares. cause of that we tried to find a way to find gaster. i built a machine to analyze the timeline. all we found out was that the timelines would start jumping and then everything would end. i left all of that behind. alphys won the new spot of royal scientist and she wanted me to stay on as an assistant, but she wanted to keep working with determination.” Sans shrugged and shook his head. “i couldn’t do that.”

“And then Alphys created Flowey,” Frisk said.

“the timeline began resetting and loading like nuts,” Sans said. “sometime before, i think there was some, but it was so subtle compared to what flowey did. it felt like i was being tossed around like a rag doll. plus, that flower was such a pain. he figured out i could remember and started to toy with me. we fought lots and he caused all sorts of issues.” A dark look passed over Sans’ face. “a lot of awful things happened. i could never stop him for good and i just kind of gave up after a while. no one else remembered like i did.” His shoulders fell. “i tried hard for so long to help everyone, but…what’s the point of trying if everything just resets?” Frisk tried to think of something to say to comfort him, but then he continued. “then you came.” Sans glanced over at her with a fond look. “suddenly you could save, load, and reset instead of that stupid flower, but then it was the same old same old for a while.” His expression darkened. “i didn’t expect that.”

“Sans,” Frisk whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Sans glanced back over at Frisk and placed his own hand over hers. “but then it reached a point where the resetting stopped. when you stopped killing us…” Frisk lowered her eyes, looking ashamed. Sans took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers together. “in the end, you saved all of us. it was what i had been waiting for.”

“Waiting for?” Frisk asked, confused.

Sans paused. He considered his next words carefully. “i didn’t just dream about the bad timelines.” Frisk smiled and squeezed his hand. “so yeah, that’s all of my deepest darkest secrets.”

It was Frisk’s turn. She stared at Sans with an unsure look then took a deep breath. “When I first fell into the underground I was star struck. I had been alone all my life. I mean I was an orphan on the Surface.” Sans nodded. Frisk had told them all that a long time ago. “Suddenly my life was full of adventure.” A smile appeared on Frisk’s face, which quickly disappeared. “When I first fell, before I met anyone else, someone was there. She was a human like me, but only I could see her.”

“who?” Sans asked.

“Her name is Chara,” Frisk said with a shaky voice.

“the first fallen human?” Sans asked with a surprised look. “but she died, her soul never came back.”

“Toriel buried her in the ruins,” Frisk said. “Her SOUL was badly damaged and she didn’t have enough determination to come back alive completely by herself, but she lingered on, trapped there. Until I fell into the Ruins. She helped me through the Underground and told me useful things about monsters, but I was scared. I was so scared.” Sans’ eyes softened and he stepped forward to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. Frisk looked at him with an ashamed look. “You never met me back then. You never knew me when I first fell into the Underground. I first discovered the SAVING and LOADING system when a Froggit killed me.” About to be on the verge of tears, Frisk continued, “Chara tried to tell me that it was okay. That I could trust the monsters, but then when it almost happened again. I attacked. I killed every monster that attacked me.” Frisk turned her gaze away when she saw Sans’ horrified look. “Even Toriel, but then I wanted to go back. I wanted to stop.”

“what happened?”

“Something changed in Chara.” Frisk shook as she spoke. “She was always so nice to me. She wanted to help me. She wanted to be friends. Even when I killed the monsters, she didn’t try to stop me. Then, she decided that I needed help. Without her SOUL, Chara was easily corrupted. I-my fear, it destroyed her.”

She laughed and shook her head. “After I killed Toriel, I changed my mind. I realized I shouldn’t be afraid. I RESET and started back in the Ruins, but it was too late. Chara took over. She used me to kill everyone. Then she destroyed the world using the other six human SOULs! She told me she would restore it if I gave my SOUL to her. So I did and she had lied to me! All she wanted was to keep destroying the world because she thought that’s what I wanted. That that was why I came to the Underground, why she came back to life.”

“she killed everyone again and again,” Sans said with a horrified look. “because you corrupted her?”

“It was all my fault. Then, I was trapped,” Frisk whispered. “I screamed and fought. I begged with her, told her that I wanted to save everyone. But I could only regain control for a short period of time. Even that happened rarely. It took me a while to realize that I needed to RESET before she could if I wanted to stay in control.” For a few moments Frisk did not speak. She glanced away from Sans and then a sad smile spread to her face. “I was able to do it because of you. She was so worn out from fighting that I got control again, RESET, and managed to stay in control.” Frisk shook her head. “But she’s still here. Mirrors show her face instead of mine. If I get angry then I can feel her getting control over me again. That’s why I wanted to leave. This is all my fault.” Frisk rubbed at her eyes to try to keep the tears from falling. “I still have all of my memories of hurting everyone. I wish I had done something different. I wish-”

Sans pulled her into a tight hug. “you did the best you could,” He said. “it’s okay.”

“But it’s all my fault,” Frisk whispered.

“you were just a little kid. a scared little kid. you tried to do the right thing and in the end, you managed to fix everything.”

“I didn’t fix Chara.” Whimpering, Frisk held on tightly to Sans. “I don’t deserve to be treated kindly.”

“we’ll figure this out. alphys and i can get that demon child out of you.”

“What if Alphys hates me because of everything?” Frisk asked.

“she won’t,” Sans promised. He felt so relieved that someone else knew about him. Frisk hadn’t shoved him away or thought of him as a freak. He figured Frisk was probably relieved that Sans hadn’t shoved her away as well. “maybe we can get this thing in working order.” Sans turned to stare at the broken machine. “there’s some blueprints around here and alphys has learned lots about determination since we first tried to use it. considering how it split gaster into a million pieces i bet we could modify it to split you and chara up.” Frisk nodded.

“That’s stupid,” Chara said. “That machine will never work again.”

Frisk glanced around, but did not see Chara anywhere. Frisk clung to Sans’ arm and leaned her forehead against him. He glanced at her with a curious look. “I’ll save her,” Frisk whispered. Sans nodded and pulled her into another hug, but did not say anything.

Over the next week, Sans and Alphys disassembled the broken machine and moved at the parts back to Alphys new lab on the Surface. She was ecstatic that Sans wanted to get back into science again. The snow day had ruined his original plans of going into the lab, so Alphys worried he had backed out of it. Sans just insisted that he was doing everything for Frisk. That she would be happier if he tried again. Yet, there was a growing pile of various science books in his room again. The closer Sans and Alphys got to completing the machine, the angrier Chara got. She tortured Frisk with nightmares every night. In her dreams Frisk killed all of her friends again and again.  

This time it was Snowdin. Papyrus repeated his speech about how everyone could be a good person. Chara did not reply, but stepped forward to kill him. Her walk faltered. “Not this time!” Frisk said, still trapped inside her mind. “I won’t let you! Not again! No!” Her hand shook as Chara struggled to keep control.

“What are you doing?” She shrieked in anger.

“Taking back control!” Frisk said back, managing to stumble forward. Surprised, she stared down at her hands and then dropped the knife in the snow. She had done it. For the moment Frisk had regained control. Tears flowed down her face as she raced over to Papyrus. His smile widened and he scooped her up into a hug.

“WOWIE! YOU DID IT! YOU DIDN’T DO A VIOLENCE!” He said happily as Frisk hugged him tightly. “TO BE HONEST, I WAS A LITTLE AFRAID. BUT YOU’RE ALREADY BECOMING A GREAT PERSON. I’M SO PROUD I COULD CRY!” He hugged Frisk back. “WAIT, WASN’T I SUPPOSED TO CAPTURE YOU?” Frisk smiled as she wiped away her tears. “WELL, FORGET IT! I JUST WANT YOU TO BE THE BEST PERSON YOU CAN BE. LET’S LET BYBONES BE BYBONES!”

Before Frisk could say anything, she felt Chara attempt to take control again. “I thought you wanted them gone. Aren’t you scared?” Frisk cried out in surprise, clutching her head. Papyrus stared at her with an alarmed look. Frisk knew she couldn’t resist Chara must longer. The timeline would be reset and Chara wouldn’t be careless enough to let Frisk take control again.

“I’m sorry!” Frisk said, meeting Papyrus’ gaze. “I didn’t want to do it! She’s making me. She-” The timeline reset and Chara had gained control again.

“I don’t understand partner. Why do you keep fighting me?”

When Frisk woke up it was morning. She yawned and sat up in her bed, pulling her knees to her chest. As she leaned her head against her knees, she sighed. As long as she lasted a little while longer, she would be separated from Chara. She stretched and hopped out of bed, heading downstairs. There was still a lot of work to be done in the lab. Since it was a Saturday, Frisk figured she could lend a hand. She said goodbye to Toriel and raced out the door. Both Alphys and Sans seemed to work best in chaos. Frisk carefully stepped around metal pieces, blueprints, and tools that had all haphazardly been thrown to the floor. At the moment, Sans and Alphys were arguing over some detail in the blueprints.

“Clearly it says to connect the green wire here!” Alphys said, jabbing the paper.

“gaster meant red, not green,” Sans said, shaking his head. “it looks similar.” Frustrated, Alphys stared down at the paper.

“As similar as apples and oranges maybe!” Alphys said. “Or as Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie and Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie 2!”

“all that trash is the same to me.”

“Excuse you, Mew Mew: Kissy Cutie is a classic!”

Before the two monsters could fight any more, Frisk interrupted, shoving herself between them. “I brought some breakfast.” She held out a bag of bagels she had bought on the way there. Both Sans and Alphys looked exhausted. “You guys didn’t stay here all night, did you?” They exchanged an embarrassed look. “This really doesn’t need to be done immediately! You should get some sleep.”

“After everything you’ve done for me, I want to help you as much as possible,” Alphys said, blushing. “Without you, we’d all still be trapped and I’d still be in a super rough patch.”

“it’s really no big deal.” Sans nodded. “don’t worry about us kid.” Sans glanced over at the machine. “it’s almost done anyway.”

“Once we put on this last panel,” Alphys said. “And connect the green wires here and the red wires here.”

“obviously it says-”

“Maybe you should take a break!” Frisk said with a more insistent tone. “Eat breakfast, please, for me?” She beamed at them and they both grudgingly took a bagel. Frisk sat down on the ground next to Sans and glanced at the blueprint. She supposed that the writing vaguely looked like some sort of language. It consisted of odd symbols.

One good thing about all the new work was how happy Sans had become. He seemed at home in the laboratory. Sometimes he even seemed to know more than Alphys. The white labcoat suited him as well. Frisk smiled, staring over at him. He glanced over at her with a smirk. “what?”

“You just seem so happy,” Frisk said with a smile.

“nah, i’m miserable,” Sans said. “i don’t get to take as many naps anymore.” As Sans spoke, Frisk rolled her eyes. “it’s hard to convert all this potential energy into work.”

Alphys snorted, trying not to laugh. “It is nice to have someone around who’s actually useful,” Alphys said. “Undyne tries, but she tends to break a lot of things.” Frisk nodded. She felt pretty useless in the lab as well.

For the next hour after the brief bagel break, Sans and Alphys continued to argue over where the plate went. After referring to other parts of the blueprint, they decided on it and put the panel in place. The machine roared to life. Screens lit up and began reporting the status of the system. Both Sans and Alphys typed in commands and fine-tuned settings. Frisk stared at the machine, feeling as though she might throw up. If the machine was done the separation would have to go on. Sans and Alphys had refigured the machine to detect determination and separate souls rather than just inject determination into SOULs, but they still were not confident it would work. Frisk couldn’t even imagine being split across time and space like Gaster was. Then again, it was either try to split up her and Chara or have to worry that someday Chara would take over and kill everyone again and again.

“it’s done,” Sans said, hands hovering over the keyboard once the machine had been fully configured. He pulled back and stared at the machine. Everything had been put together. The alterations had been made and the machine booted up like it should have. All they had to do was put Frisk in it and turn it on.

Then they had to hope it didn’t kill her.

“Are you ready Frisk?” Alphys asked, turning back to address Frisk. “If not, maybe we could do it later?”

“Maybe tomorrow?” Frisk held her hands behind her back so her friends did not see she had begun to shake. “I’d like to mentally prepare.” More like, she wanted to spend her last possible day on earth with her friends. “We do something fun together!”

“like what?” Sans asked.

“Maybe we could bake a cake and then have a movie marathon or something like that,” Frisk said. “Just something, with all of us together.” Her voice cracked.

“You’re worried,” Alphys said. Embarrassed, she stared down at the floor. “I guess you have every right to be. Lots of stuff we’ve done has failed in the past.” Sans shot a sad look at the machine and glanced down at his left hand, flexing it. Alphys shook her head and looked up. “But don’t worry! We’ve installed failsafe after failsafe. You’ll be safe, I promise!”

“we won’t let anything happen to you.” Sans wrapped an arm around Frisk’s waist and pulled her close, kissing her cheek. Frisk nodded, smiling at him. “what kind of cake do you want?”

“And what movies?” Alphys asked. “I just got this great new anime about these robots that save humanity and learn to emote and it’s really great!”

“Whatever you guys want!” Frisk said, glancing between the two of them. “I just want to be with everyone and have fun.”

The fun of the day started with a fire in Papyrus and Sans’ kitchen. “UNDYNE! YOU PUT IT ON TOO HOT!” Papyrus said, throwing water onto the fire.

“Don’t put water on an oil fire!” Alphys yelled, a bit too late. As the flames shot up higher and began to spread across the kitchen, Toriel slammed a pot down over them. Before she contained the fire, the curtains went up in flames.

“Stomp them out!” Frisk pulled the curtains down and Undyne gave them a hearty stomp, breaking the floor.

“This is all rather a big mess.” Toriel sighed, staring at the remains of the French toast they had been trying to make since Alphys slipped and dropped the flour for the cake all over the floor. All of them were covered with the residues of eggs, flour, sugar, and every other creation from the morning. Frisk’s smile was huge. If she did disappear then she wanted to remember every happy moment they shared.  
            “We should just order a pizza,” Undyne said with a disappointed sigh. “Before we burn down this whole damn house.”

“I WHOLE-HEARTEDLY AGREE WITH THAT SUGGESTION AS IT IS MY HOUSE THAT WOULD BE BURNED DOWN!” Papyrus said.

“Then we can start watching the movie!” Alphys chimed in.

The “movie” turned into three movies and a short 26-episode anime series that Alphys wanted to get through before the day ended. By nine that night, they had barely gotten through half the series. Everyone had fallen asleep either on the couch or the floor. Undyne snored, laying on her back with Alphys curled up against her chest. Papyrus laid sprawled out next to them. Toriel dozed on one side of the couch with Asgore on the far side. In between them were Sans and Frisk, leaning against one another. Frisk glanced around at all her friends, so happy that she could be with them. She just hoped it wouldn’t be the last time.

“you awake frisk?” Sans asked, keeping his voice quiet to keep from waking the others. Frisk nodded, glancing over at him. “knock. knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“lena.”

“Lena who?”

“lena a little closer and i’ll tell you,” Sans said with a huge grin. Frisk rolled her eyes, but obliged. Sans kissed her, squeezing her hand.

“I love you,” Frisk said softly when they broke apart.

“love you too.” Sans leaned back up against the couch and closed his eyes. “everything’s going to be okay.”

“I know,” Frisk said with a hopeful smile.


	10. Chapter 10

Frisk stared at the machine with growing unease. She did not say anything as she sat in the chair and allowed Alphys and Sans to fit her with all the proper equipment. They placed a metal band around her head and several metal discs all over her arms. They connected back to wires in the machine. Sans restrained Frisk’s arms and legs to the chair with cuffs in case Chara did manage to get control. “don’t worry,” Sans said. “we worked a ton on this.”

“A skele-ton?” Frisk said with a nervous laugh. Sans just grinned back at her and briefly kissed her before leaving the chamber and sealing it. As brave as she tried to look, Sans saw the flash of fear in her eyes. 

For the first few moments, Alphys and Sans monitored Frisk’s vital signs. An image of a beating red heart appeared on one of the screens. Judging by the initial examination of Frisk’s SOUL, everything seemed to be in order. Sans frowned. Maybe Chara was hiding herself. “Ready?” Alphys asked, glancing at Sans. He nodded and Alphys hit the button that lowered down the mirror.

Frisk stared at the mirror, inching away from it out of habit. She felt a growing fear as the image distorted to show an annoyed Chara. “Why are you doing this?” Chara said, pushing against the glass. “Stop it!”

Sans and Alphys watched as Frisk’s SOUL seemed to tremble. Her heart rate shot up and the machine detected a sudden surge of determination. “we need to turn it on now,” Sans said, pressing another button. The machine began to vibrate. Lights began to light up all over the console. Moving quickly, Sans and Alphys flipped switches, pressed buttons and monitored the screens.

Frisk braced herself for the shock. She didn’t expect the separation to burn as much as it did. She shrieked in pain. For a moment, Chara looked concerned, but her apathetic face returned after a moment. “They’re stupid if they think this will work. Shouldn’t they remember what happened to Gaster when he toyed with things he knew nothing about?”

The screen showing Frisk’s SOUL began to gradually change. It was still just one SOUL, but it had a shadow behind it. The presence of a SOULless being. Frisk shrieked in pain again, feeling as though she might lose consciousness. Chara took advantage of that and took control. She struggled against the restraints angrily. Slowly, Frisk’s body seemed to phase in and out of reality. It seemed to be splitting into two, with one paler girl and one girl with darker skin.

Sans noticed the change in Frisk’s expression the moment Chara took control. He also noticed the odd phasing. He ignored Chara for the moment and turned the machine’s power up. Sparks flew from one of the control panels, startling Alphys. “It’s working,” She said as she fixed the error. “But I don’t know how much more the machine can handle!”

“it has to work,” Sans said, stealing a glance at Frisk and Chara again. Frisk’s SOUL had almost been ripped into two. An odd calm had come over Chara. She sat there with an amused smile, able to move one arm free of the restraints as her and Frisk became more separated. Frisk continued to scream and writhe in pain, making Sans wince. A tall shadow seemed to briefly appear in the chamber. Sans narrowed his eyes, but when he blinked it was gone. Suddenly, alarms began blaring. Error warnings lit up all over the machines.

“no!” Sans raced to fix the errors and redirect power, but the sparks from the controls made him leap back. “we need to turn it off!” Alphys rushed over to one of the kill switches, but before she could touch it, the machine exploded. Both Sans and Alphys were thrown backwards. Smoke obscured their view.

“Frisk!” Both Alphys and Sans screamed.

When Frisk opened her eyes, she was in the lab still in the chamber, but everything was greyed out and she was alone. Darkness surrounded her. Had she died? Worried, Frisk glanced around. A shadow flitted around in the darkness causing Frisk to jump. She glanced down and noticed the restraints were open. “Hello?” She asked as she stood up and exited the chamber. “Who’s there?” Something briefly flashed into existence. Terrified, Frisk backed up. Was it Chara? The form solidified. It was a tall skeleton. Cracks spread all over his body and he wore a dark robe. Frisk inched backwards, but tried to stay brave. When the skeleton spoke to her it was complete nonsense. “Who are you?”

The skeleton walked forward. He moved his hands fluidly, signing, “ _A friend_.” He reached out to her. “ _You are weak. Let me help you_.” Frisk reached out and paused for a moment before taking his hand. Something seemed familiar about the monster before her. He kneeled in front of her to look her in the eyes. Something appeared in his other hand. He opened Frisk’s hand so her palm was facing up and placed it in her hand. “ _For you_ ,” The skeleton removed his hand to sign again. The object looked like a tiny skull. Upon further examination, Frisk realized it was the weapon Sans had used against her when he fought her in the Judgement Hall. “ _It will help._ ” Before she could say anything the object glowed red and melted into her hand. She shrieked in pain and clutched at her hand.

“What did you do?” She asked, horrified. The skeleton smiled, the cracks on his face widening. Then realization hit Frisk. “Are you Gaster?” The skeleton’s face and body had become distorted compared to the pictures Frisk had seen of him. She stared down at her hand with a panicked expression. Red lines had begun to spread up her arm, heading toward the right side of her face. “Where am I?” Gaster did not respond. “Am I dead?” Gaster shook his head. It felt like something had begun to burn around Frisk’s right eye. “Is this magic?” Gaster squeezed her hand.

“ _Don’t be scared_ ,” He signed and smiled at her. Reaching out, Gaster hugged her. To Frisk’s surprise, the hug was comforting. Frisk smiled a bit and hugged him back. For some reason, his kindness felt familiar. Pain erupted around Frisk’s eye and she winced, trying not to scream from the pain. Gaster pulled back and signed to her again, “ _She must be proud of you_.”

“What are you talking about?” Frisk asked. “Who?” Gaster just smiled at her.

The lab began to disappear. Frisk reached out to grab Gaster’s hand again, but he faded away with a smile. “Wait!” Everything faded out until Frisk could not see anything.

“This is your destiny,” A haunting voice said. It was a woman’s voice. The familiarity of it sent shivers down Frisk’s spine. “You were always meant to have this power. You are the future of humans and monsters. You are the angel.”

When the smoke cleared, Sans and Alphys saw there were two separate bodies lying by the machine. Debris from the machine left both Chara and Frisk covered with lacerations. The explosion also left them with burns. “frisk!” Sans leapt to his feet to run over to Frisk. He knelt by her side, shaking her shoulder. “kid are you alright?” Frisk’s chest still rose up and down, so she had at least survived the machine’s explosion. “oh no.” Red cracks surrounded her right eye. Red light pulsed as Frisk breathed. “frisk, i’m sorry.” He ran a hand down her cheek. Chara sat up, eyeing her hands in fascination. Sans and Alphys had both seen the fallen human in portraits, but had never met her. She had died long before their time. Chara glanced over at Sans and Frisk with a cold look. She tilted her head unnaturally to one side and picked up a long shard of glass.

Chara said nothing as she stood up and began to shamble toward them. “Sans watch out!” Alphys yelled right before Chara attacked. Sans leapt out of the way. He picked up Frisk and raced over to stand protectively before Alphys.

“Out of everyone I killed, you always frustrated me the most,” Chara said as if she was testing the voice. She played with the glass shard in her hands. “You were always so lazy until the very end. Why not stop me sooner?” Chara yawned and stretched. “But instead you let all of your friends die. Your own brother.” Laughter filled the room. “Who’s the real demon here, you or me?”

“you’re very determined, though not as much as frisk, right?” Sans said, gently handing Frisk off to Alphys, who hugged the girl in her arms. Chara’s face twisted in anger. “that’s why you needed her, you were too weak.” Blue magic lit up Sans’ left eye and hand. “you really screwed with frisk and see i don’t appreciate that.”

Chara twirled her glass shard around. “Oh why? ‘Cause you looove her.” Chara shook her head, doubling over with eerie laughter. "You should have seen how scared she was of monsters. For good reason apparently." Pacing back and forth before Sans, Chara examined the glass shard, feeling the sharp edge. “Remember all those times you tried to trick me with that SPARE? Frisk fell for it. She took control and then dropped the knife every time she could gain control.” Chara leaned forward with a malicious smile while San’s eyes widened in horror. “You killed her when she tried to show you mercy. Surely you must have seen the change in her demeanor? I couldn’t talk when I possessed Frisk and yet what did she say to you?”

Sans clenched his fists in anger. “I’m sorry!” The words echoed in Sans’ mind. “I don’t want to hurt you! I want to be friends Sans!” Then he killed her. Yet she kept taking control and sparing him again and again.

“time for you to die.” Sans threw Chara backwards, against one wall then against another. She yelped in surprise as she hit the floor and flurry of bone attacks shot after her. One scraped her arm as she dodged out of the way. Sans summoned the blasters and shot at Chara. She nimbly dodged again.

She attacked without a second thought as usual and Sans fired another series of attacks at her, forcing her backwards. “don’t get any closer,” Sans snapped as Alphys moved an overturned table over to hide her and Frisk. Chara ignored him and attacked again. Sans dodged out of the way and fired another series of attacks using the blasters. Chara dodged each one and lashed out with her glass shard. “you’ve caused me a lot of grief.” Chara slashed the air again, missing by inches. The blasters appeared and fired on her over and over. Chara just laughed as she danced out of the way.

“You deserved it,” She yelled back and slashed at him, missing by a few inches.

“You’re destroying the lab!” Alphys shrieked, ducking as a blast almost hit her.

“after everything you’ve done to frisk.” Sans dodged out of the way of Chara’s attack, flinching when he saw how close she came to hitting him. He used his magic to throw Chara against a wall, then slammed her against the floor, and threw her across the lab. “after everything you’ve done to all of us!” A series of blasters fired at Chara. One stream of light hit her arm and she yelped in pain. “you should be burning in hell!”

“I was helping Frisk!” Chara said with a furious look. “She wanted to kill you all!”

“what the hell is wrong with you?” Sans threw Chara back against the wall repeatedly. “didn’t you hear here begging you to stop?” Then, he started to slam her against the ceiling and floor. “just die!”

Laughing, Chara stood back up after the attack, although her legs shook a bit. “You don’t know what I’ve been through. You weren’t there.” She shook her head and slashed at Sans again. “You haven’t felt this power! I finally found my real purpose.” She shook with anger. “Everything I’ve done was to help out my partner!”

“you’re delusional.” Already the battle had begun to wear Sans out. “well, i know frisk wanta to try to save you, but i’ve made up my mind.” Raising his hand, Sans flung Chara into the walls, the ceiling, and the floor before attacking with a barrage of bones and blasters. Still, the child got up. She lurched forward and slashed again. Sans dodged out of the way, gasping from the exertion. “you’re beyond saving.”

"You don't understand just how right you are." Chara paced around the room, glancing about it. "I was in darkness. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't see anything. Then, Frisk came around. I was alive again, almost at least." Sans watched her with a weary look. "That’s why I’m helping her. I did it all for her! For my partner! For my best friend!" Chara attacked again.

They went back and forth, attack after attack. Even though Chara was bleeding out from multiple wounds, she could still keep up with Sans’ attacks. She had beaten him hundreds of times before. One more time made no difference to her. Shot after shot, the blasters kept missing her. Sans could only throw her against the walls and launch bone attacks at her so many times. He felt his own strength weakening. He couldn’t let himself get hit even once while Chara could get hit at least a few times. Her defensive strength gave her a large advantage. Chara slashed at the air again, forcing Sans to retreat backwards. He tripped over a pile of rubble and hit the ground hard. When she attacked again, Sans managed to dodge out of the way of the glass right before she struck him. The attack cut a gaping hole in his jacket. Breathing heavily, Sans stood again and attempted a weak attack. Chara laughed as she slid out of the way to avoid it. Frustrated, Sans threw her against the walls, the floor, and ceiling as much as he could manage.

“Most of the time I killed you I did it for fun,” Chara said as she struggled back up to her feet. “I enjoyed the challenge. I enjoyed beating you again and again. You were always so cocky. Everything else in the game was so easy.” She slashed at Sans again. As he dodged he felt the last of his stamina run out. With a gasp, Sans fell to one knee, gasping for breath. “But not you.”

“Sans!” Alphys screamed from her hiding spot. Frisk stirred. Alphys turned to her and shook her. “Frisk, you have to get up! I can’t do anything to help! I’m no good at fighting! Please! You have to help Sans!" Frisk raised her head and willed her eyes to open. She struggled to sit up and leaned against the metal table for support. The scene in the lab slowly came into focus before her. She saw Chara standing over Sans with the glass shard raised high. Frisk’s eyes widened and her right eye glowed red.

“you’re a real freak,” Sans said to Chara in between gasps. He didn’t have enough strength to fight back. It was over. Once Chara killed him Alphys and Frisk were done for. He had failed them.

Before Chara could attack, there was a flash of movement. Frisk appeared before Sans, guarding him. “No!” A glow of red magic surrounded her outstretched hand. A white shield appeared before her. The glass shard smashed into the shield. Surprised, Chara leapt backwards and snatched up another shard of glass from the ground. “I won’t let you hurt anyone again,” Frisk said, slowly lowering her hand. The shield disappeared. “I’m sorry. Please, Chara stop this. I never wanted to hurt anyone, not like this. I should have listened to you! Monsters are our friends right?”

Chara stared at Frisk with a conflicted look. “No. That’s not what you wanted.”

“Please stop this.” 

Chara ignored Frisk and moved to attack Sans again. In an instant, Frisk summoned two blasters. They both fired and Chara dodged out of the way. She stared at Frisk with a furious look. “I can’t. I can’t stop.” This time, Chara stepped towards Frisk. Tears began to form at her eyes. “Why? Why am I like this?”

Frisk stepped forward. “I’m so sorry.”

Once again Chara attacked, but she lunged at Frisk instead of Sans. The shield appeared just in time and Frisk used it to shove Chara backwards.

“fr-frisk?” Sans said, staring ahead with wide eyes.

Using the new magic, Frisk threw Chara against a wall. The girl gasped as she hit and the wall crunched behind her. The blasters appeared again. Chara rolled out of the way right before the blasters fired. She attacked again, stumbling forward to slash at Frisk. With a wave of her hand Frisk tossed Chara back.

“I thought we were friends!” Chara demanded as she attempted to slash Frisk again. The other girl sidestepped out of the way and fired a blaster at Chara. “I did it all for you. Why do you want me to stop!”

“It’s not what I wanted!” Frisk felt all of the emotions she once had to keep hidden overwhelm her. “Stop it!” One blaster fired, missing by a few inches. “I was a bad friend!” Another blaster fired, hitting Chara’s arm. The girl screamed and leapt backwards. “I was a murderer!” Chara lunged forward at Frisk and Frisk blocked her attack with the shield. “I was wrong! I hurt you and I’m sorry.” She used her magic to throw Chara against the wall. It was exhilarating being able to fight back against Chara. “I can’t let you hurt anyone else.”

“She can use the same magic as you,” Alphys said, rushing over to Sans. She helped him to his feet so they could move away from the battle. “The machine did the same thing!”

“she’s stronger,” Sans said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Chara had a much harder time dodging Frisk’s attacks. They lasted longer and Chara had already fought one battle. Gasping, Chara slipped, falling onto the ground. Four blasters appeared, surrounding Chara. Their eyes glowed red. “Frisk,” Chara said quietly. She dropped her glass shard. “We’re partners right? Don’t kill me. I promise I won’t hurt anyone, anymore!” Frisk hesitated, feeling her hand shake a little. “I promise.” Tears gathered at the corners of the girl’s eyes. She looked terrified. "I can be good again."

Pausing, Frisk remembered a similar scene. She thought of Asriel standing before her. She had hugged him and comforted him after all that he had done. After all, he had just been a scared child, just like Chara. The little girl stared at Frisk, wiping away her tears as she cried. Frisk gave her a patient smile. The blasters faded away and Frisk walked up to Chara, offering her hand to her. “Everything will be alright,” She said. “I’ll help you. I know there’s good in you. You can be a good person if you try.” Chara reached out and took Frisk’s hand.

“frisk!” Sans yelled as Chara pulled Frisk towards her, grabbed the glass shard again, and sunk it into Frisk’s side. Eyes wide from shock, Frisk coughed up blood.

“I wish I never met you.” Chara whispered and Frisk pulled away, stumbling backwards. Sans rushed forward and caught her before she fell to the floor. Blasters reappeared, but their eyes were blue. A furious look lit up Sans’ eyes. He had just enough determination to use one last attack and kill Chara. She did not try to dodge. She bowed her head and fell down to her knees. She sat still, making Sans hesitate. “I’m the demon that comes when people call its name,” Chara whispered. Frisk’s breath hitched and she clutched at her side.

“Do-Don’t,” Frisk said. “I-I can help her.” Sans glanced to Frisk. The wound was deep, but likely wouldn’t kill her. Chara could have done much more damage.

“Kill me.” Chara’s voice shook with emotion. “I’m a demon. Can’t you see?” She looked up and Sans saw the tears in her eyes. Whatever happened to her had destroyed her. Sans could tell it took all of Chara’s will to sit there, unmoving. Her hands twitched as she grasped the glass shard in her hands. A being without a SOUL was easily influenced and Sans suspected that once they were corrupted there was no turning back.

“sorry kiddo.” The blaster’s obliterated Chara, leaving the shadow of a SOUL behind for a brief moment, before it disappeared. The battle had ended. Chara had been defeated. In the process the entire lab had been destroyed.

Frisk turned to look over up at Sans. The glow around her right eye disappeared. Sans’ own magic faded away as well as they both sunk to the ground, exhausted. Alphys rushed over, pulling off her lab coat to wrap around the deep cut in Frisk’s side. “hey kid, talk to me,” Sans said, wrapping his hand around Frisk’s cheek. Her whole body had been covered in wounds. “are you okay?”

“How-How can you fight like that?” Frisk said. She began to fall limb.

“frisk? hey hold on.” Sans had tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. He choked out a sob when he saw the cuts and cracks around Frisk’s right eye. They still pulsed red even without the magic.

“I was so scared…she would hurt you…I failed....I couldn’t-I couldn’t-”

“It’s over now,” Alphys said, leaning forward. “We need to make sure you’re alright! All your wounds are really bad! Please save your strength Frisk!” Sans just hugged Frisk and cried.

“i thought i’d fail everyone again,” He said. “i-i couldn’t beat her on my own. i never could beat her.” Sobs wrecked his body. “i’m sorry frisk, now i’ve gone and failed you too.”

“No you…” Frisk trailed off as she tried to smile at Sans

Sans continued to sob. “i almost killed you.” Frisk shook her head. The movement was sluggish. She felt exhausted. “it’s over now, right?”

“Yeah…”

“You did it again Frisk,” Alphys said. “You’re the one that saved us.”

Frisk’s smile faded as she let her body give into her exhaustion. Everything went black as she slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard were startled shouts from Sans and Alphys. 


	11. Chapter 11

In Frisk’s unconscious state she dreamed of the golden Judgement Hall. Sans stood before her, left eye glowing blue and Frisk felt Chara’s presence. Unlike in her other dreams, it was just a distant memory. Overwhelmed with determination, Frisk pulled herself away from Chara’s control. Sans was sparing her. Frisk dropped the knife and walked forward.

“…you’re sparing me? finally. buddy. pal. i know how hard it must be…to make that choice. to go back on everything you’ve worked up to.” He smiled at her, but in her dream Frisk knew it wasn’t genuine. At that moment in the past she had actually believed it. “i want you to know…i won’t let it go to waste…c’mere, pal.” Sans held open his arms.

“Don’t be stupid,” Chara said to Frisk as she fought to regain control. “It ends the same way every time!”

“I’m sorry!” Frisk choked out just like she did every time before as she rushed forward to embrace Sans. She could feel Chara’s irritation, but Frisk knew that Chara had no idea what she was really planning. “I don’t want to hurt you! I want to be friends Sans!” Bones pierced Frisk from every direction. She gasped, blood dripping from her mouth. Sans stared at her with a dark look and lowered his arms. Hanging there in midair, impaled from every direction, Frisk managed to smile at him after coughing up more blood. “It won’t be like this again. I’ll make this right.” For a moment Sans looked confused. Then, before Chara could regain control Frisk reset the timeline. It was the final reset. When Frisk opened her eyes she was in the Ruins and she was fully in control. She sat up and looked around as Chara screamed in frustration in the back of her mind. Frisk smiled and stood, heading off to go face Flowey.

When Frisk woke from the dream she was back in her bed at her home. Every limb ached as she rolled over and propped herself up on one elbow. She felt her body and found that her arms and legs had been covered in bandages. She lifted her shirt to see stiches across her skin. As Frisk blinked, she realized her right eye was also obscured by a bandage. Sighing, Frisk laid back down in bed. She glanced over to her right and saw Sans sleeping in a chair besides her bed. With a smile, Frisk rolled over towards him. “Sans?” Frisk reached over to touch his hand.

Yawning, Sans rubbed his eyes. “frisk?” He had a relieved look on his face. “geez kid you really worried me.”

“How worried?” Frisk asked, staring back at him.

“a skele-ton,” Sans said with a small smirk. Frisk giggled. “aren’t you getting sick of that joke, kid?”

“Nope!” Frisk said, grabbing Sans’ hand and twisting their fingers together. “Thank you for staying here with me.” Still smiling, she pulled him toward the bed and lifted up the covers so he could slide in beside her.

Together they laid side by side. Sans reached up and brushed Frisk’s hair out of her face, trailing his hand down her cheek. His hand drifted down to her side, rubbing gentle circles there. Frisk stared back at him and after a while her smile disappeared. “what’s wrong frisk?”

“I just feel awful about what happened to Chara.” Frisk’s words came out as a whimper. “It was my fault and I couldn’t save her.”

“sometimes you can’t change that. you just have to live with it,” Sans said gently. Frisk nodded. “if it makes you feel any better i don’t think she was trying to kill ya.”

“What do you mean?”

“she was just trying to make me mad so i’d kill her. by then she knew you weren’t going to. i think what you said did get through, but by then chara had become too corrupted. her SOUL was too full of LOVE.” Frisk nodded.

“I just wish I could have done more.” Frisk closed her eyes and sighed.

For a while Sans watched Frisk as she rested. Her breathing was gentle, but still a little strained. Even with healing magic, her wounds had been extensive. The monsters did all they could, but she would need time to heal on her own. At least she was safe. At least she was alive and there with him. “i love you,” Sans whispered.

“I love you too,” Frisk said, wrapping her arms around him to pull him closer. She kissed him, moving slowly and deliberately. Pressed right up against one another, they could feel each other breathing and every subtle movement. Minutes drifted by before they pulled apart. Leaning her head against Sans’, Frisk closed her eyes. “I love you,” She whispered again. “You’re everything to me.”

Sans kissed her again. “you’re so mushy,” He said. “but, uh you know, you’re my everything too.” Frisk blushed and hugged Sans a bit tighter. Smiling, he rubbed her back as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. She kissed him there and he gasped in surprise.

After a while the two of them fell asleep and did not wake until sunlight shone in through the window. Blinking in the light, Frisk rolled over and glanced towards the window. Sans still slept, snoring lightly. Frisk smiled and kissed him. “Wake up Sans.” He grumbled and rolled over, pulling her pillow over his head. “Come on. Don’t you want breakfast?” She stretched and threw back the covers. As she tried to stand, she collapsed after taking a few steps. Before she even neared the ground, Sans caught her arm and helped her to her feet.

“careful,” He said. “let me help.” Smiling, Frisk kissed his cheek. 

Leaning on Sans for support, Frisk walked into the bathroom. She opened up the shutters on the mirror and took a long look at herself. Cuts covered her face. A few deeper wounds had been stitched up. Frisk couldn’t believe how old she looked. Tugging at the bandages on her head, Frisk unwrapped the bandage around her eye. When she pulled it off, she saw the cracks all over her top and bottom eyelids and around her eye. Even without using the magic they seemed to pulse red. “they go away. well, at least they did for me,” Sans said from the doorway. Frisk just stared at her eye in wonder. She urged the magic to life, making her eye and right hand glow. The faucet turned on and off when Frisk urged it to. The red glow of the magic seemed friendly. While it was red, it resembled the setting sun more than blood. Frisk began to feel woozy and she released the magic, watching the glow disappear. “i’m sorry.” Sans stared off into the hallway. Frisk glanced over at him.

“Well, I guess if anything bad ever happens I’ll be ready to help fight it,” Frisk said with a small smile. “Plus I’ll never have to move to change the channel on the TV again even if the remote is on the other side of the room.”

“that’s my kind of thinking.” Sans looked relieved. He offered his hand to her and Frisk took it, leaning on him for support. When they came down the stairs, everyone had gathered in the kitchen, looking solemn.

“Frisk!” They all screamed at once.

“Oh my child,” Toriel said, hugging Frisk so tight that Frisk coughed. “I was so worried. I wish you had told us.” When she pulled back she smiled. “You are so much stronger than I ever thought.”

“We coulda helped!” Undyne said, punching Frisk’s shoulder. “All of you were idiots running off without our help.” She shot Alphys a disappointed look. Her wife glanced down in embarrassment, but Undyne kissed her cheek to reassure her. “We’re all friends. We need to fight our battles together!”

“You are always so brave,” Asgore said, hugging Frisk as well. Toriel flinched as he brushed against her, but then the look on her face softened. “I am proud of you.”

“You were super cool!” Alphys cut in, beaming at Frisk. “With that magic! You and Sans were such cool heroes. It was amazing!” Frisk blushed and shook her head.

Before Frisk could say anything, Papyrus rushed over to steal her away from Toriel and Asgore. He picked her up as he hugged her, whirling around. “I THOUGHT YOU HAD DIED!” He sobbed. “WHEN SANS AND ALPHYS CAME BACK TO THE HOUSE AND YOU WERE BRUISED AND BROKEN AND-” He squeezed a bit too tight and Frisk winced. “WHAT A TERRIBLE FRIEND I WOULD BE IF I HAD LET YOU DIE! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD NO LONGER BE GREAT HAD I LOST YOU!” Touched, Frisk couldn’t think of a response and Papyrus continued on, “IT WAS JUST LIKE WHEN MY BROTHER HAD HURT HIMSELF IN THE SAME WAY. YOU TWO ARE CERTAINLY CUT OUT OF THE SAME CLOTH TO BE THROWING YOURSELVES INTO DANGER LIKE THAT!” Papyrus wiped away his tears and smiled at Frisk. “BUT I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN YOU AND YOU HAVE ALWAYS MADE IT THROUGH AND DONE THE RIGHT THING!”

“I always will,” Frisk said happily. Papyrus hugged her again, lifting her up and twirling her around.

“DO NOT WORRY FRISK!” Papyrus exclaimed. “FOR ANY FUTURE INCIDENTS I WILL BE SURE TO PLACE MYSELF AT YOUR SIDE!”

“You couldn’t hurt a fly,” Undyne said, slapping Papyrus on the back. “Me on the other hand. I’ve got your back Frisk!” Frisk just smiled back at them.

Everyone worked together to repair the lab. Sans and Alphys decided to just leave the machine broken. They tucked it away in a storage closet and locked the door. Frisk wondered if she should tell them how she had seen Gaster, but decided against it for the time being. During the repairs of the lab, Frisk discovered videotapes from the previous incident with the machine. When no one was looking, Frisk tucked the tapes into her bag.

“I hope nothing important was destroyed,” Toriel said as she helped Alphys sift through the debris.

“Don’t worry,” Alphys said. “I had all the important work backed up on servers.” She gestured over to a destroyed mess of computers. “Well, uh, maybe they’re still recoverable?”

“We’ll just have to beat them back into shape!” Undyne said, gathering bits of computers into her arms. She leaned down and kissed Alphys. “Besides you’re so brilliant that this mess is no problem.” A light blush lit up Alphys’s face and she shook her head.

Sans lazily used his magic to shove some rubble aside to unearth another computer. The cleanup process would take weeks. He glanced over at Frisk, who seemed to be fishing for something in another pile of broken electronics. She pulled out a small video monitor and walked away with it to another room. Curious, Sans followed her.

Once Frisk had found a VCR and the video monitor, she slipped the first tape in and pressed play. An image of the old lab in Sans’ basement appeared on the screen. Alphys’ face covered the whole screen for a moment, before she backed up, staring at the camera. “Everything’s ready!” She exclaimed. “We’ll get all the data on tape.” Gaster stood beside the computer console. He nodded. His face looked much kinder without the multitude of cracks. Frisk watched as he moved his hands fluidly. He spoke in sign language again, just like when she had seen him in the lab.

Sans, who was standing on the other side of the room, shook his head. “that’s nonsense,” He said. “you can’t test it on yourself!”

Gaster signed something a bit more insistently. The camera angle prevented Frisk from seeing his hands well enough to understand what he was saying. Alphys protested as well, “And if we lost you? The whole underground would be screwed over! There’s no one that could possibly take your place.”

With a small smile, Gaster signed something else. Both Sans and Alphys looked a bit embarrassed. “whatever, cut out the sweet talk,” Sans said, rubbing the back of his head. “why don’t we just test it on me?” Looking alarmed, Gaster shook his head and signed something else. “come on, it’s fine. i trust that we got the thing functional.” Sans walked over to the chamber and opened the door.

“Sans, are you sure?” Alphys asked.

“yeah, come on alphys,” Sans said. Alphys still looked unsure, but walked over to help with the preparations. Gaster continued to protest as Sans and Alphys set up the metal band and discs. After several minutes, Gaster gave up and just went to the control panel.

“Initiating sequence,” Alphys said, tapping at the keyboard. Gaster moved faster and without hesitation. The screen lit up and revealed a white SOUL. Curious, Frisk peeked a bit closer. It was Sans’ SOUL. Alphys looked up at Gaster. He gave her a small smile and pressed the final button. Sparks lit up the controls and Sans screamed in pain. Frisk flinched back as she watched. “Oh no! What’s happening?” Alphys typed various commands that all resulted in an error message.

Gaster acted faster. He ripped a panel off of the machine. Frisk caught sight of a glowing white coil. With a determined look. Gaster grabbed it and pulled. The machine continued to spark and smoke as Gaster struggled with the coil. Then, a purple glow enveloped his hands and began to disappear into the coil. He yelped in surprise and then the video feed began to experience feedback. Frisk heard Alphys yelling, “Dr. Gaster!” When the video feed came back into view, Gaster had disappeared and the coil started to pulse purple. The sparks began to die down and the coil faded to a light red. The power in the lab went out. “Sans? Are you alright?” Frisk heard Alphys panicked voice. “Sans! Come on, wake up!” 

Frisk sighed and turned the video off. She wondered what that coil’s purpose was. It seemed like the coil had been the thing that absorbed Gaster.  

“so that’s what it looked like from the other side.” Sans stood in the doorway behind Frisk. She glanced over her shoulder with a guilty look. “i can’t believe alphys kept those tapes.”

“Sans.” She stood and walked over to him. “I should have said something earlier. When I had passed out I-” 

“saw gaster,” Sans said, nodding. “yeah, i may have not been completely honest with you either.”

“What?” Frisk asked with a surprised look.

“after that thing absorbed gaster,” Sans said. “i saw him. he gave me a blue blaster. he gave you a red one.” Frisk’s eyes widened. “i wonder why.” Frisk frowned and stared back at the TV.

“What was that coil?” She asked.

“it powered the machine and directed the determination,” Sans said. “gaster tried to explain it, but it involved a lot of stuff that went right over our heads. it’s probably the thing that split him across time and space, i mean that’s what it was supposed to do…disperse energy across time and space to prevent the machine from exploding.” Frisk glanced at Sans with a contemplative look. “if you’re thinking there’s some way to save him-”

“Maybe,” Frisk said. Her expression changed and she had a determined look in her eyes as she smiled at him. “We should try!” She grabbed Sans’ hands. “Maybe with both halves of his magic we can do it!”

“maybe kid,” Sans said. “but gaster’s been split up a long time. it might not be even possible. once the labs up and working again we can talk to alphys about it.” Frisk nodded. After another moment of consideration, Sans sighed. “also, kid, there’s something else i never told you.” Confused, Frisk tilted her head. “when i saw gaster, he asked me something. he asked me to protect a human…a human named frisk.”

“What?” Frisk stared back in surprise. Sans nodded. “How? How did he know my name?”

“no idea,” Sans said, shrugging. He glanced away and for a moment Frisk wondered if he was telling her the whole truth. “there’s a lot of stuff about gaster. i’ll never understand. but we’ll figure it out.” 

The reconstruction of the lab took about a month. Once most of the systems were back in place, Alphys agreed with Frisk that they should try to find a way to save Gaster as well as find out how he knew about her. First, Alphys declared that they should analyze Frisk and Sans’ magic. Frisk felt a bit uneasy being hooked up to a machine again, but still went through with it.

“We should analyze each type of magic first.” As Alphys typed away on the computer, both Sans and Frisk activated their magic. Frisk’s right eye glowed red and she summoned one of the blasters. It appeared next to Sans’. “Wow, those types are giving off exactly the same energy! Uh, let’s try something different.” The two of them both lifted a chair. “Also, the same.” Frisk summoned the shield while Sans summoned several bones. “That’s weird.”

“What?” Frisk asked, holding the shield in her lap. “Is it different?”

“The first four energies were exactly the same, but these two are different from each other and the original four,” Alphys said.

“well, this is my original magic.” Sans played with a small bone, twirling it in his hand. “no surprise there.”

“But Frisk’s shield is registering as something non-Gaster related,” Alphys said. She frowned and stared at Frisk. “Perhaps you always possessed magic, besides your ability to SAVE, LOAD, and RESET?”

“the mystery deepens,” Sans said with a contemplative look.

“I think we should do a lot more analysis,” Alphys said. “We will get to the bottom of this!”

Countless more tests left all three of them without answers and just more frustrated. Frisk sometimes wondered if there were just things she would never know about herself. One possible suggestion Alphys had was that Frisk’s determination was strong enough for her to also use magic. After all, the seven humans that had created the barrier were sorcerers, humans that possessed high levels of determination. Alphys figured Frisk was one as well. Then, why did her magic only activate after she was infused with Gaster’s magic? Frustrated, Frisk sighed, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat at in the lab.

“maybe that’s enough for today,” Sans said. “i’m drop dead tired.” Frisk smiled at him.

“You’re probably right,” Alphys said. “I can try to figure out something from the data we already have.” Alphys shrugged. “I can guess we have a look time to figure this all out.”

“yeah,” Sans said, offering his hand to Frisk, who took it. “so we’ll work later.”

Together the two of them walked out into town and off to the hill overlooking the playground. Frisk smiled, swinging their hands as they walked together. “Do you think I’ll live longer now?” She asked.

“maybe,” Sans said with a shrug.

“I hope so,” Frisk said. “I don’t want to die and leave all of you behind.” When she looked back over at Sans, she had tears in her eyes. “Is that selfish of me?”

“of course not,” Sans said. “trust me frisk, you don’t have a single selfish bone in your body. i have many of them so i would know.” A smile crept back onto Frisk’s face. “as long as i get to spend time with you, i’m happy.”

“Even if I die long before you?” Frisk asked.

“it wouldn’t change every happy moment we had before that,” Sans said. He squeezed Frisk’s hand. “or you know, how happy you’ve made me. or how you’ve given me a reason to really live again. that’s uh a bit mushy, but it’s true. if you had never come we would all still be living a meaningless existence that flowey would just reset when he got bored.” He shook his head. “everything will be okay from now on. i promise.” Frisk stared at him in surprise as he repeated the same words she had said seven years ago. “okay frisk?”

She nodded. “If you say so!” 

The sun had begun to set. Frisk stared ahead with a small smile. For a while Frisk didn’t say anything. Then she glanced over at Sans and said, “I’m so happy about everything that has happened. I’m so happy I fell into Mt. Ebott. I can’t imagine my life without all of you!” Her smile widened as she said, “Especially you Sans.”

Neither of them said anything for a while. They watched the sun set together, hands grasped tightly together. Frisk leaned her head against Sans’, content in the moment. Stars began to twinkle in the sky as the sun sunk below the horizon. Frisk closed her eyes and smiled. Everything felt so perfect. “I love you.”

“love you too.”

As they kissed, Frisk’s phone began to ring. She ignored it, but it began ringing again. Sighing, Frisk answered it. “Hello?”

“WHERE HAVE YOU AND MY BROTHER WANDERED OFF TO?” Papyrus said. “WE WERE ALL SUPPOSED TO GO TO DINNER. SURELY YOU DID NOT FORGET?”

“They’re just off smooching somewhere I bet!” Undyne yelled in the background.

“Undyne!” Toriel sounded embarrassed.

“Well it’s totally true,” Undyne said.

“Yeah, probably,” Alphys agreed. “They’re so in love, it’s so cute!”

“WELL, YOU SHOULD BOTH HURRY UP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING AND MEET US FOR DINNER!” Papyrus said.

“Of course,” Frisk said, red from embarrassment.

“relax bro,” Sans said, pulling the phone from Frisk’s hand. “don’t stress about it. maybe eat an ice cube.”

“AN ICE CUBE?” Papyrus said, puzzled. “HOW WOULD THAT HELP?”

“it’s a chill pill.”

“HURRY UP AND GET OVER HERE!” Papyrus yelled before hanging up.

Frisk stood up and stretched. “We should probably go.” She held out her hand to Sans, who took it without hesitation. As the sun set in the distance they headed off together. It had been rocky, but it seemed like they had achieved peace at last. Together they walked off to go join their friends. Neither of them noticed the women in a purple cloak. She watched them from afar. The woman smiled and then disappeared.


End file.
